Simpson College’s board of trustees today announced the appointment of Marsha Kelliher as Simpson College’s 25th president and the first woman to serve in the role. 

Previously, Kelliher was president and CEO of Walsh College, a private business college in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Mich. She will join Simpson College on June 1. Bob Lane, who has served as interim president of the private college in Indianola since Jan. 1, will continue to serve in that role until the new president is in place. 

“President Kelliher is a passionate leader who has continuously demonstrated the ability to effectively lead dynamic institutions,” said Terry Lillis, a Simpson alum and chair of Simpson College’s board of trustees. “With her leadership, Simpson students, faculty, staff and our alumni will continue our great tradition of providing an exceptional learning environment devoted to student success and inclusiveness. Her experience, vision and dedication will ensure Simpson College continues to set the standard for liberal arts education in Iowa and beyond.” 

Founded in 1860, Simpson College has about 1,300 full-time undergraduate students and 400 part-time students. Simpson also has a campus in West Des Moines serving primarily adult learners. 

In August 2019, Simpson’s board announced that President Jay Simmons would step down from that role and instituted a national search for his replacement. The college has been dealing with lower enrollment and changing student interests and had two rounds of faculty layoffs in 2018. 

Kelliher earned a Master of Laws degree in labor and employment law from the University of San Diego and a law degree from South Texas College of Law. Her bachelor’s degree is from Indiana University. 

Simpson College will be her second college president role, after having led Walsh College for just under three years. She entered academia in 1994 at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where she was dean of the Graduate School of Management from 2000 to 2004. From 2004 to 2013, she oversaw the university’s graduate and undergraduate business programs. Under her leadership, six new domestic majors and six new domestic graduate programs were launched. Before Walsh College, she worked at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, where she launched a Women’s Leadership Symposium and oversaw the creation of four new majors.

Several things attracted her to Simpson College, Kelliher said, among them “an impressive faculty, a high level of student success and engagement, and certainly its beautiful campus.” 

“Simpson College is well-known and highly regarded for the quality of their academic programs,” she said. “The faculty, staff, students and alumni that I met with really stressed the importance of Simpson’s mission to prepare students to live lives of meaning and purpose, and that particularly resonated with me. The personal stories they told me really brought it to life and reinforced that Simpson College is exactly the right place for me.” 

Responding to the current COVID-19 crisis is the college’s most pressing issue, Kelliher said, when asked about the college’s financial health as a priority. 

“There are always opportunities to increase enrollment, and that will be something that we will be looking at,” she said. “But I think the most pressing thing will be coming off of this current situation, and making sure that the community remains united and that we stay true to our mission, vision and values, and that we continue in the spirit of inclusion and access that are so important to Simpson College.” 

Kellier began her career at the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, & Co. in 1982. She completed her law degree while working full time, attending most of her classes on nights and weekends. She is licensed and has practiced law in Texas and California. In 2013, Kelliher was admitted into the prestigious National Academy of Arbitrators.

Last year, she was named to Crain’s Detroit List of Notable Women in Education and to DBusiness’ Detroit 500 Most Powerful Business Leaders in Education. In addition, she received a Peacemaker Award from the Austin Dispute Resolution Center and was named a Woman of Influence by the Austin Business Journal in 2011. In 2004, she was nominated for an Austin Business Journal Profile in Power Award and was a Leadership Texas graduate. In fall of 2002, she was named the YWCA Woman of the Year in Education.