President-elect Daniel G. Lugo

Daniel G. Lugo was announced as Trinity College’s 23rd president on December 3, 2024, and will begin his service on July 1, 2025. Currently president of Queens University of Charlotte, Lugo is driven by a lifelong passion for the mission of higher education and has centered his career on leadership that enhances institutions and their profiles.

Under Lugo’s presidency since 2019, Queens University of Charlotte developed an ambitious strategic framework with goals to deepen its connection with the local community of Charlotte, to reshape and develop new multidisciplinary academic programs, to support the holistic wellness and well-being of the university community, and to create an integrated approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion that begins on campus and extends into the surrounding community. Most notably, Lugo led efforts to strengthen Queens’ branding and enrollment efforts, which have yielded a 50 percent increase in undergraduate applications; executed a $25 million capital improvement plan to address long-standing deferred maintenance opportunities; and reclassified the university’s 25 NCAA sports to Division I competition. He was nominated by Queens employees and selected in 2021 as one of Charlotte’s “Most Admired CEOs” by the Charlotte Business Journal.

Prior to his tenure at Queens, Lugo served in key leadership roles at three prominent liberal arts colleges—Colby, Franklin & Marshall, and Carleton.

As the vice president of college advancement at Colby from 2015 to 2019, Lugo oversaw the ambitious and successful $750 million “Dare Northward” comprehensive campaign, the largest of its kind for any liberal arts college. Colby subsequently has increased the campaign goal to $1 billion. Lugo led strategies to build alumni engagement and to deepen connections between the campus and alumni, including introducing technology and programs for alumni to mentor students and to enhance philanthropy for the student experience. Lugo also co-chaired the diversity, equity, and inclusion task force, partnering with faculty members on the college’s inclusivity efforts.

Lugo brings deep expertise in enrollment and admissions. As the vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Franklin & Marshall from 2011 to 2015, Lugo led a global talent strategy that resulted in a 45 percent increase in applications that yielded a more academically talented and diverse class. While at Carleton earlier in his career, Lugo supervised the admissions process and enrollment marketing strategy and helped to develop cultivation and solicitation strategies for leadership donors.

Formerly an intellectual property and entertainment attorney, Lugo changed his professional trajectory because he believed strongly in the transformative power of higher education. A first-generation college graduate, Lugo earned a B.A. in political science from Carleton and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was an editor of the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality. He received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Carleton College Alumni Association in 2021. He serves on the boards of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities (NCICU), New American Colleges and Universities (NACU), and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

He and his wife, TinaMarie, are the proud parents of two adult children, Michael and Amanda.