The Ottawa University Board of Trustees announced the selection of Kevin C. Eichner to be the 21st president of the university, which has campuses across the country including in Tempe and Phoenix.

Eichner, a member of the OU Board of Trustees since 1982 and past chair, succeeds Dr. Fred B. Zook, who has served as president since August of 2007. Eichner will assume his new duties on July 1.

Eichner currently serves as president, CEO and vice chairman of Enterprise Financial Services Corporation, the parent company of Enterprise Bank & Trust, a $2.0 billion banking and $1.7 billion trust company headquartered in St. Louis and with operations in Kansas City and Phoenix. He will step down as Enterprise CEO effective May 1, but will remain active as the company’s vice chairman and chairman of its subsidiary trust board.

Eichner is a 1973 graduate of Ottawa University with a BA in social change. He went on to earn an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1977. “Ottawa University is in my blood and its mission is in my heart,” said Eichner. “I have been very blessed in my life and am deeply honored to now be able to dedicate the remainder of my career to advancing this University and its noble purposes.”

Eichner and his wife Marylin, a 2000 graduate of OU-Greater Kansas City, will reside at Granger House at the residential campus in Ottawa, Kan., while maintaining a residence in Phoenix.