about President lindgren
Robert R. Lindgren has served as Randolph-Macon College’s fifteenth president since February 1, 2006. During his tenure, Randolph-Macon has focused on increasing enrollment, revitalizing RMC’s campus, creating new academic and co-curricular programs, and increasing private support of the College. New student enrollment has increased by 40% and over 12 new majors have been created in this period. The College completed 11 new buildings, having also completed major renovations on 5 facilities, all totaling more than $100 million in construction expenditures. Private support of Randolph-Macon has reached an all-time high and the College completed a $125 million comprehensive campaign during his tenure. Since 2016, the College has consistently ranked in the top 25 among all colleges and universities in alumni giving participation.
President Lindgren came to Randolph-Macon from The Johns Hopkins Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, where he served as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations for both the University and health system for nearly twelve years and led two of the largest and most successful campaigns in American higher education. Prior to Johns Hopkins, he served as vice president for Developmental and Alumni Affairs for six years and the chief development officer at the University of Florida for a total of ten years and held prior positions at UF as Assistant to the President and Assistant Dean in the College of Law.
President Lindgren has been actively engaged in the business and academic communities related to Randolph-Macon. He served on the Virginia Governor’s Higher Education Commission in 2010-11 and as the only private college president on the Commonwealth’s Higher Education Advisory Committee (2011-14).
Lindgren also served on the Division III Presidents Council of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, on the executive committee and as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Council of Independent Colleges, and as a member of the executive committee and Treasurer of the Annapolis Group, an organization of more than 125 leading national liberal arts colleges across the United States.
Locally, his service has included time on the boards of directors of the Richmond Forum, ChamberRVA, and the World Affairs Council of Richmond, and as a member of Richmond’s Future Council of Advisors and on the advisory board of Virginians for High Speed Rail.
Lindgren also previously served as vice chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, and as chair of the Council of Independent Colleges of Virginia, where he led the group of 29 private colleges and universities in the Commonwealth. He is also past chair of the Virginia United Methodist Conference’s Association of Educational Institutions, representing five United Methodist Colleges and one secondary school in the Commonwealth. He also served as a member of the board of the Richmond-based Partnership for the Future.
A native of Muskegon, Michigan, President Lindgren earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida in 1976 and 1981, respectively, and a Master of Philosophy degree in management studies from Oxford University in England in 1978, where he was the recipient of a Rotary Fellowship. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Florida in August 2012.
President Lindgren and his wife, Cheryl, have three children, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, and are actively engaged with the Ashland community.