Webster University Appoints John Pyle Chief Innovation Officer

John Pyle has been appointed Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President for New Business at Webster University.

In this role, Pyle will grow and enhance Webster’s approaches to innovation across its services, programs and campuses to foster enrollment and revenue growth. In this role, Pyle will lead the University’s approaches to business incubation, entrepreneurship, strategy execution, partnership and joint venture development in ways that competitively position Webster in a rapidly changing higher education sector.

“John’s experience leading strategic initiatives in higher education will provide valuable insight to Webster as we develop innovation and growth strategies that build on Webster's strengths while identifying opportunities for us to address our communities’ evolving needs more effectively,” said President Elizabeth (Beth) J. Stroble.

“As we seek new opportunities to leverage the reach of Webster’s broad network and its people, we look forward to John developing and executing strategies that grow current offerings, foster new business opportunities, and build organizational capacity and improved business models,” said Julian Schuster, Webster’s provost, chief operating officer and senior vice president.

Pyle will be a member of the senior leadership team and will be working closely with the President and the Provost in this important role.

“I am excited to join Webster and build on its long tradition of innovative achievements in education,” Pyle said. “With a collection of strategies in place to encourage, generate and evaluate ideas for innovation, Webster can deliver the promise of education and the benefits of a higher education partner to an even broader population in the communities we serve.”

Before joining Webster, Pyle served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. He has held other leadership roles in higher education, including VP for Enrollment, Marketing, and Strategic Initiatives and VP for Graduate and Professional Programs, both at Saint Mary's. Pyle also served in senior leadership roles with Hamline University as its Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing and with Aurora University as its Senior Vice President.

Pyle holds a Doctorate of Education in Leadership from Saint Mary’s University, a Masters of Arts in Educational Leadership from Immaculata College and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Spanish minor from Kutztown University. In addition, Pyle completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Institute for Higher Education.