Kevin Phillips has had a long and successful 30-year career in enrollment management and admissions, serving at four different colleges and universities with increasing levels of responsibility.

Kevin is currently the Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management. Since joining Lees-McRae in September 2019, Kevin has overseen the offices of admission, financial aid, student affairs, and NCAA Division II athletics. He has implemented many new initiatives that have led to a significant increase in applications and enrollments for first-year and transfer students. Lees-McRae has enrolled three of its largest four classes during this time frame. In addition, he is leading a team that is developing many new partnerships with the North Carolina Community College system, including the establishment of Guaranteed Admission Programs and Program-to-Program Articulation Agreements.

Prior to arriving at Lees-McRae, Kevin served as the Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. With his previous roles there as both the Director of Undergraduate Admissions and the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, he experienced tremendous application and enrollment growth that saw full-time undergraduate enrollment rise from under 2,000 to over 5,000 today. The last three enrolling classes at the university were the three largest in its nearly 100-year history. These three classes were also the most academically talented and were enrolled while decreasing the overall discount rate.

In 2018, Kevin oversaw significant growth of incoming graduate and international students as well. Spring international graduate enrollments at the University of New Haven increased from 123 to 201 over the previous year, and incoming domestic graduate enrolling credit hours increased by nearly 1,000. He was responsible for redesigning enrollment communication plans, significantly increasing the number of campus visitors, implementing a career progression plan for admission employees, and enrolling the second largest number of incoming transfer students at all private colleges and universities in New England.

Kevin started his career as an admissions counselor and assistant men’s basketball coach in 1994 at Sacred Heart University. During his time there, applications and enrollments nearly tripled, and the University moved its athletic programs from NCAA Division 2 to NCAA Division 1. He now also serves as an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach for Lees-McRae.

A former college basketball player, Kevin is widely known as an innovator and forward thinker. He has significant expertise in event planning, marketing, quality service initiatives, public speaking, financial aid leveraging, social media strategies, athletics, and Esports. With a team approach, he has helped to develop numerous successful enrollment management professionals over the years. He is a member of NACAC, NAFSA, NAGAP, and AIRC.