Dr. E. LaBrent Chrite
Dr. E. LaBrent Chrite is the seventh president of Bethune-Cookman University.
Chrite comes to B-CU from University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, where he was dean, and headed a faculty and staff of 220 serving more than 3,000 students. Chrite led the College through a major strategic shift—overhauling the academic portfolio, expanding the global footprint, creating a new generation of teaching and learning approaches matched to the demands of the 21st-century economy, and growing the faculty.
He previously served as dean at Montclair State University in New Jersey, and has held leadership positions at the University of Arizona-Tucson and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
In addition to his leadership positions, Dr. Chrite has taught strategic management, leadership and international business to students and executives at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona and at universities around the world.
Chrite is an expert on how to build individual and institutional economic capacities in challenging emerging markets around the world. He has worked on behalf of the World Bank to build education and business assistance programs across sub-Saharan Africa, and on behalf of the Eurasia Foundation to strengthen the private sector in Uzbekistan. He recently completed a three-year engagement to improve business education and entrepreneurship in Afghanistan, working under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and engaging Daniels faculty.
He is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He and his wife, Phyllis, have three children and one grandchild. He completed his undergraduate work at Michigan State University, earned an M.S. from the University of Missouri-Columbia and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.