Ringling College names new president

The Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota has a new president: Davis Schneiderman, a professor, official and senior leader at Lake Forest College in Illinois for nearly 25 years.

Schneiderman was introduced as Ringling College’s seventh president during an event and press conference on the school’s campus Friday. He will assume office at the college June 1, according to a statement.

Schneiderman will replace Larry Thompson as president; Thompson, who announced he would be retiring last April, has been at the helm of the school for 27 years and will lead the college through the end of the 2025-2026 academic year. 

“Ringling College stands at an exciting moment in history,” Joel Morganroth, chair of the Ringling College board of trustees, said at the press conference.

When Thompson was selected as president in 1999, he was an “outlier,” Morganroth said — he was an attorney whose resume included being the founding director and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. 

“It turned out that choice … was like winning the lottery,” Morganroth continued. At the time, Ringling had an operating budget of $15 million; it is now 10 times that amount. The endowment was under $4 million and is now 20 times that, according to Morganroth.

During Thompson's tenure, student enrollment more than doubled, to 1,722. The college also built 14 buildings under Thompson’s leadership and upped academic offerings from six majors in 1999 to 26 today. Nearly 500 faculty and staff work there. 

“I am excited to be passing the baton to such an inspiring and capable leader in creative education,” Thompson said in a statement accompanying the event. “I have every confidence that Dr. Schneiderman will steer Ringling College and our campus community steadily and confidently forward. I believe he is fully committed to upholding our institution’s mission and vision, and our dream of becoming the preeminent art and design college in the world. He will continue to have my full support.”

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Schneiderman has had an academic career that spans “art and design practice, institutional leadership, and the integration of emerging technologies into creative education,” according to the statement. 

Most recently, Schneiderman was the founding executive director of Lake Forest College's Krebs Center for the Humanities, which connects creative practice, technology and public engagement. Anchored by a museum collection housed in an inspirational Italianate home, the Krebs Center operates as a public-facing cultural institution — integrating exhibitions, symposia, artist residencies and community programs with regional, national and international artists and writers, according to a statement. Schneiderman also spent five years as Lake Forest’s provost and faculty dean. The college is north of Chicago, on Lake Michigan.  

“Everything I've done when I reflect has led me to Ringling,” Schneiderman said at the press conference. “I see in Ringling a powerful creative incubator.”

A central focus of Schneiderman's work, he said, has been around AI and its intersection with ethics, humanism and creativity. “I am confident that Ringling will thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, because this is a human-powered institution that believes in the power of creative humans,” Schneiderman said at the event.

With a Ph.D in English from Binghamton University in central New York State, Schneiderman began his career at Lake Forest College in 2001 as an assistant professor in English, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has an undergraduate degree from Penn State and a master’s from Binghamton.

“I have been privileged to know Davis for many years and have been consistently impressed by his innovative thinking and leadership at Lake Forest College and across higher education,” Lake Forest College President Mike Sosulski said in the statement. “Davis has helped move the college in bold and exciting directions, and his impact will be felt for years to come. While he will be greatly missed at Lake Forest, we congratulate him on this well-deserved appointment and wish him every success as president of Ringling College of Art and Design.”

Ringling College of Art and Design, a private, nonprofit, fully accredited college that offers the bachelor of fine arts degree in 11 disciplines and the bachelor of arts in two, was founded in 1931.

“Ringling’s students will help shape our world to come, and this is an institution whose future is more than bright: it’s positively shining,” Schneiderman said in a statement. 

The hiring of Schneiderman was overseen by a Presidential Search Committee assisted by the executive search firm Russell Reynolds and chaired by Ringling College of Art and Design Board of Trustees Vice Chair Ali Bahaj. 

"We conducted a rigorous and thoughtful process, one that included numerous listening sessions with stakeholders, multiple rounds of interviews, extensive discussions among committee members and careful consideration of each candidate's leadership experience, vision and alignment with Ringling College's mission and values," Bahaj said at the event. "On a personal note, I found our new president to have key characteristics and qualities that define visionary leadership, including high intellect, the ability to carefully listen and to ask thoughtful questions and to pursue and implement necessary changes."

A published novelist, writer, and multimedia artist, Schneiderman is a frequent speaker on creativity, technology and higher education, with appearances at national and international conferences and cultural venues, the school says. Schneiderman and his wife, Kelly Haramis — an actor, writer and former journalist with the Chicago Tribune — have two college-aged daughters, the release states, “and the family looks forward to making Sarasota their next home.”