Educator, academic, college president, consultant, and innovative leader Dr. J. Timothy Cloyd has a proven track record of responding to disruptive change in the higher education sector. Whether as a university president, fundraiser, consultant or classroom professor, Dr. Cloyd has a keen understanding of the history, challenges, and future direction of higher ed.

As a consultant, Cloyd assists organizations seeking to achieve success in industries that are responding to disruptive changes. His professional training, skill set, and ability to build a collective vision allow him to bring concrete, actionable advice to institutions to help them move quickly to gain momentum and to enhance visibility. He achieves this by working closely with leaders on change and innovation to increase revenue by introducing new or enhancing existing products or services through research-based differentiation, the use of new technologies, and energizing new cultures of excitement and service among staff and associates.

Currently the president of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, Cloyd has helped lead an increase in traditional undergraduate enrollment of more than 14 percent since 2016 and has more than doubled fundraising efforts during that time. Following empirical study of the market and delving into Drury’s history of innovation, he challenged and empowered the faculty to craft new academic platform for the institution. The result, Your Drury Fusion, launches in 2019. Its distinctive design moves past single majors and narrow areas of study. Your Drury Fusion is a cohesive, universal program that guarantees every Drury student will graduate having identified the power that comes from connecting their professional and intellectual passions. Alongside academic innovation, Drury University also launched a new campus master plan under Cloyd’s leadership, in partnership with renowned urban architecture and design firm Cooper Robertson.

Prior to his time at Drury, Cloyd was the president of Hendrix College, a nationally recognized liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. During his 12 years as president, Hendrix grew its enrollment by over 50 percent and tenure track faculty by 35 percent. Hendrix revamped its campus, constructing 13 new academic and co-curricular buildings as well as Hendrix Village, a mixed-used commercial partnership venture. His strategic vision and guidance resulted in the faculty creating the Hendrix Odyssey program. This, and many other innovations brought national visibility and prestige to Hendrix College during Cloyd’s tenure.

Dr. Cloyd graduated magna cum laude with a double major in philosophy and political science in 1985 from Emory and Henry College in Virginia. He earned an M.A. in 1990 and a Ph.D. in 1991 in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. During his time there, he also studied in the Isenberg School of Management in the areas of finance and management. Dr. Cloyd received continuing education at Harvard University in the area of Educational Management.

While Dr. Cloyd’s family roots are in the American South, he spent his formative years living on the Navajo Indian Reservation. His parents were the headmasters of the Navajo United Methodist Mission School in Farmington, New Mexico. Prior to this, his family lived and worked as missionaries in the Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Dr. Cloyd and his wife, Wendy, have three sons.