ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on meeting the competing challenges while creating a data strategy that advances the institutional mission. The role of the president is to lead the college or university to achieve its mission. In fulfilling this role, the president serves as the chief executive officer and typically reports to a board of trustees. The roles of president and provost are both rewarding, but they also present many challenges. Demographic data are particularly helpful, allowing the institution to fully understand the profile of the student body and how that profile may have changed, or may change in the future. One of the major challenges is having the ability as an institution to develop and sustain an effective data infrastructure. Presidents and provosts have to be able to access data, sometimes very quickly. These leaders are often in situations where there is an immediate need to share information with constituents.
