President Maxey's Biography

Michael Creed Maxey

Michael C. Maxey is Roanoke's 11th president. He took office on July 1, 2007 after being unanimously elected president by Roanoke's Board of Trustees in May 2007. He has been a part of the Roanoke College community for 23 years and was a member of the president's cabinet for 17 years before being elected president.

During the first year of Maxey's presidency, Roanoke set records as enrollment topped 2,000 students for the first time in the college's history and the graduating Class of 2008 was comprised of a record 421 graduates.

Maxey holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Wake Forest University and a master of arts in education, counselor education, from Wake Forest. He also earned a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in counselor education at University of New Hampshire. He attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. He is a native of Bassett, Va.

Roanoke College received a record number of applications nine times during Maxey's tenure in the admissions office. During the same time, the size of the freshman class expanded 36 percent, and racial and ethnic diversity of incoming classes increased from one percent to 12 percent.

Maxey has overseen the college's student retention initiative and supervised the campus' offices for community programs and public relations. Maxey co-chaired the strategic planning process in 1992 and served on the steering committee for the strategic plan in 2003. While in the resource development office, he supervised the completion of the Sesquicentennial Campaign, raising $81 million - surpassing the $75 million goal.

In 2005, Roanoke College students recognized him with the Unsung Hero award. The First Virginia chapter of National Society of Fund Raising Executives named him the Outstanding Fund Raising Executive in 1992. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society. From 1998 to 2003, Maxey served on the NCAA Southeastern Regional Postgraduate Scholarship Selection Committee.

Maxey is a member of College Lutheran Church, where he is a former trustee, council member and past council president. He is a member of the board of directors of the United Way of the Roanoke Valley, the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Roanoke Valley Business Council and the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership. He is a former member of the board of Lewis Gale Medical Foundation, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, Salem YMCA and Salem Historical Society, where he is a past president. He served on the Salem/Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006. Maxey was a member of the Salem City Schools long range planning committee in 2002.

He and his wife, Terri, have three sons: Michael, 22; Stuart, 19, and Jack, 14. Terri Maxey is a former financial aid administrator. The family lives in Salem.

Updated July 3, 2008