Hope College has looked beyond higher education but within the Hope family in hiring an experienced manager as its new vice president for admissions.
William C. Vanderbilt of Holland, a 1988 Hope graduate who has been with Perot Systems/Solutions Consulting for the past 12 years, will assume leadership of the college's admissions program on July 1.
"I am excited about Bill leading a very competent admissions team and our overall effort in enrollment management," said Hope College President Dr. James Bultman. "He was a non-traditional candidate for the position, with his career experience having been in business rather than higher education, but he brings to the college a skill set that will serve Hope extremely well. The search committee was particularly impressed with Bill's passion for Hope, his systems technology and analytical skills, his education and experience in marketing, his demonstrated leadership of diverse groups in a variety of settings and his commitment to the Christian faith."
Vanderbilt has been with Perot Systems/Solutions Consulting since 1995, serving as a consulting director. Through his work with the firm he has been a project manager for systems and organizational changes for a variety of corporate clients around the country, including Domino Sugar in New York City; Ore-Ida Foods in Boise, Idaho; Nortel in Raleigh, N.C.; Tenet Healthcare in Dallas, Texas; and Pfizer in Kalamazoo.
A graduate of Hamilton High School, he graduated from Hope in 1988 with a major in business administration and teaching certification, and earned a master's degree in business administration from the prestigious Kellogg School at Northwestern University in 1993 with majors in marketing, organization behavior, management and strategy. Prior to joining Perot Systems/Solutions Consulting, he had held positions with both Prince Corporation and Andersen Consulting.
Vanderbilt grew up with Hope College as a part of his life. His father, Dr. William R. Vanderbilt, was a member of the college's kinesiology faculty and coach at Hope from 1967 to 1988. Both of his parents and his two sisters also graduated from Hope.
Vanderbilt also has prior experience working with Bultman. As a Hope student he was a member of the college's football team while Bultman was an assistant football coach and member of the education faculty and dean for the social sciences at Hope. Vanderbilt was also a member of the men's basketball team at Hope, in addition to having been involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and being a member of Mortar Board.
He captained both the football and basketball teams during his senior year, and is currently serving as president of the college's alumni H-Club, which consists of Hope alumni who were athletic letter winners and other honorary letter winners as approved by the H-Club's Board of Directors. He is a member of Christ Memorial Church, where he is a member of the governing consistory, and is also a member of the board of All Families Belong.
He and his wife, Abby VanDuyne Vanderbilt, who is a 1991 Hope graduate, have three children, Caleb, Noel and Joshua. They live just two blocks from the central Hope campus.