Office of the President

Before coming to Ringling College of Art and Design, Dr. Davis Schneiderman spent more than two decades at Lake Forest College, a nationally-ranked private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois, where he helped guide the complex academic organization through periods of technological change, capital and enrollment growth, and curricular reinvention, consistently centering creative practice as a core institutional strength while contributing to sustained enrollment success and increased public recognition.

For 10 years, Schneiderman served in senior leadership at Lake Forest College, including five years as Lake Forest’s Provost and Dean of the Faculty. In that role, he partnered closely with the Board of Trustees and other senior leaders to guide academic strategy, long-range planning, and resource allocation across all educational and co-curricular areas. His leadership emphasized flexibility and sustainability—building academic structures that can evolve with changing disciplines, technologies, and student pathways.

Most recently, Schneiderman served as the founding Executive Director of the 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. Through the Krebs Center and his leadership of three major Mellon Foundation grants, Schneiderman has built sustained partnerships with museums, libraries, schools, and civic organizations.