Wilson G. Hess -- Principal and Managing Partner

Wilson Hess has over 40 years’ experience in higher education, including over 20 years as a CEO in private independent, two-year public, and four year public institutions. He has served as President of Unity College – a small liberal arts college -- where for 10 years he oversaw a period of unprecedented growth and success. In 2005 he completed a highly regarded 5-year appointment as President of the College of the Marshall Islands – the national college of the equatorial Pacific Republic of the Marshall Islands – where he oversaw a complete $27 million redesign of the campus and 44% enrollment growth. In 2015 he completed a five year appointment as the 10^th President in the history of the University of Maine at Fort Kent with a record capital campaign and 45% enrollment growth to his credit. He has recently retired as the Senior Advisor to the Chancellor of the 7-campus University of Maine System.

Throughout his career, Wilson has consistently achieved a record of distinction in small (less than 2000 student) colleges.  His assignment in the Marshall Islands resulted in “a remarkable transformation,” according to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, guiding the College of the Marshall Islands to become a model institution in the Pacific region.  In 2002 his institution received the "Best Practices" award in the not-for-profit category from the Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility. His tenure at Unity College was marked by a “remarkable turnaround,” according to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and saw invitations to participate in national organizational management initiatives funded by the Pew Charitable Trust (Pew Roundtable) and John S. & James L. Knight Foundation (Knight Collaborative).  Institutions he has led have been awarded U.S. national best practice recognition by the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (2007 and 2008).  Under his leadership, the University of Maine at Fort Kent was chosen by Foundations of Excellence as part of the 2011-2012 National Select Cohort, a Top 10 northeastern regional public university by U.S. News & World Report, one of only four northeastern rural public colleges ranked by The Princeton Review, and one of only four public universities recognized as a College of Distinction in New England.  U.S. News & World Report also named UMFK to its national “Short List of 10 Colleges Where Graduates Have the Least Debt.”

Wilson brings an especially deep range of experiences to his work with educational organizations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Baltimore and pursued his master's degree and doctoral studies at the University of Maine. He has served as President of the Maine Independent Colleges Association and of the Maine Higher Education Council. He has served on the National Scholarship Board, the National Training Council, and the National Climate Change Steering Committee of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.  In 2016 he was appointed to the Maine State Board of Education, where he is Chair, and serves on the editorial board of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE).

Accreditation and Degree Authorization Projects:

Wilson is highly accomplished in the fields of higher education leadership, institutional accreditation, board governance, and organizational turn-around situations. As a CEO he has been a champion of shared governance at three institutions and led boards at those institutions to exemplify best practice standards. He has been an accreditation team chair and member on numerous occasions.

He has led two institutions from dire accreditation sanctions to fully accredited status and institutional health – successfully addressing issues of fiduciary health and academic quality. His recent tenure resulted in “a remarkable transformation” of a troubled institution into a "model community college" for U.S. regionally accredited Pacific instituions, according to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. 

He has authored or consulted on the preparation of more than thirty accreditation self-studies and reports. His consultations have helped guide two institutions off show cause status and another off probation.  He has overseen the reviews of three instituions seeking initial degree authroization.

His board development and accreditation-related papers and presentations include:

• The New Normal: Doing More with Less in Enrollment Management (presentation to The Registry of College and University Presidents' 19th Annual Seminar, Savannah, GA) October 2011.
• The Board's Role in Assuring Educational Quality (presentation to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, Bangor, ME) July 2011.
• Improving Institutional Effectiveness with Non-Academic Departmental Program Reviews: A Case Study, (presentation to the joint Pacific Post-secondary Education Council (PPEC)/Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Conference on Building Regional Capacity for Successful Accreditation Visits, Tumon, Guam), November 2009.
• The Role of Integral Leadership in Rejuvenating a College presentation to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) National Conference on Trusteeship, San Diego, CA), April 2009.Governing Board Roles and Responsibilities (accreditation workshops for American Samoa Community College, Honolulu, HI), February 2009.
• Crafting a Show Cause Strategy in a Changing Regional Accreditation Environment (presentation to the Senate of Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, Saipan, CNMI), March 2008.
• Building and Energizing a Board, (presentation to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) National Conference on Trusteeship, Phoenix, AZ), March 2007.
• Board Development for the Pacific Region (with Dr. Kenneth Shaw -- President Emeritus, Syracuse University), Pacific Post-Secondary Education Council, Honolulu, HI, February, 2007.
• With Paul Decker and James Mulik, "Using the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to Improve Institutional Effectiveness,” Western Association of Schools and Colleges Academic Resource Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2008.
• With Barbara Beno, Susan Moses, Michael Rota, Floyd Takeuchi, et al., Enhancing and Sustaining Higher Education Quality in the Pacific: Challenges Facing Institutions Seeking to Acquire and Maintain WASC-Accreditation, Pacific Post-Secondary Education Council and the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges, San Francisco, CA, Sept. 2006.