Wabash College President Dr. Gregory Hess has been named president of the North Coast Athletic Conference for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, it was announced by NCAC Executive Director Keri Alexander Luchowski.

Hess, who served as the NCAC's vice president since July 1, 2018, succeeds Ohio Wesleyan President Dr. Rock Jones, as the president of the NCAC. Jones, who served as president since July 1, 2017, will step into the Immediate Past President role on the Conference Executive Committee for the next two years.

Hess, the 16th president of Wabash College, is in his sixth year after his election on July 1, 2013. He has thoughtfully articulated the value of a liberal arts education for men, while leading the College through strategic planning processes that will shape the course of the institution through its 200th anniversary in 2032.

Hess has launched four co-curricular "WabashX" initiatives in Democracy and Public Discourse, Digital Arts and Human Values, Global Health, and the Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship. He has also partnered with Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton on executing several "Stellar Communities" projects, including the innovative Fusion54 co-working space in the heart of downtown.

In 2018, Hess began an effort to rebrand the College — the first inclusive strategic marketing work ever undertaken by Wabash. And he is led Wabash through a significant master planning process, which examined all aspects of campus and academic life, as well as infrastructure, to guide the College's management of its physical campus through 2032.

Hess serves on the board of directors of the Independent Colleges of Indiana, Great Lakes Colleges Association, Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Club of Indiana, and the NCAA Division III President's Advisory Group. Prior to his tenure at Wabash, he was Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Claremont McKenna College at Claremont, California.

In addition to his role as Dean of the Faculty at Claremont McKenna, he was the James G. Boswell Professor of Economics and a George R. Roberts Fellow. In that role, he oversaw all aspects pertaining to academic affairs, including the curriculum, the Center for Global Education, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurism, athletics, institutional research, student learning outcome assessments, and information technology.

Hess has also held teaching positions at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Kansas, St. John's College (Cambridge), the University of Cambridge, London Business School, and Oberlin College.

Outside the academy, Hess has previously worked as an economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; as a consultant for Honda Motors of North America; and as a member of the Ohio Governor's Council of Economic Advisors. He has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Kansas City, the Bank of Japan, Korea University, the IMF Institute, and the Hoover Institution. He has been a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee since 2002.

Hess is a widely published author with more than 60 books and articles to his credit, and has served as an editor for Economics and Politics and Macroeconomic Dynamics. He has been invited to make more than 90 scholarly presentations and seminars around the world. His academic specialties include monetary policy, macroeconomics, and the economics of national security.