Regent Education, the leading partner in innovating financial aid solutions for higher education, today announced that William E. (Brit) Kirwan, Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Maryland System and past President of The Ohio State University, will join the company's board of directors.

Dr. Kirwan is a nationally recognized leader across higher education. Kirwan has received the Maryland Senate First Citizen award and the House of Delegates Speaker's Medallion in recognition for his exemplary service to the state. He was recently inducted into the Baltimore Sun's Business and Civic Leaders Hall of Fame. He is also the recipient of the TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence. In 2010, Kirwan was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), which serves in an advisory capacity to the U.S. Secretary of Education on accreditation issues and certification processes for colleges and universities.

In addition to his positions at both the University of Maryland System and Ohio State, he has previously chaired the Board of Directors of the American Council for Education (ACE); the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU), the College Board's Commission on Access, Admissions, and Success in Higher Education; and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

"I am honored to join Regent's Board of Directors," says Kirwan. "Regent and I share a distinctive passion to make education more accessible to students by removing the barriers to financial aid. The company has developed a unique capability to partner with institutions to innovate financial aid solutions that support both traditional and emerging enrollment programs—and I look forward to furthering that progress."

Kirwan will continue to shape the future of education in his new role at Regent, the only provider to support financial aid automation for both standard and non-traditional enrollment models. "We're delighted to have Dr. Kirwan join Regent Education's Board of Directors," says Jim Hermens, Chief Executive Officer at Regent. "Dr. Kirwan has been a leader across all aspects of undergraduate and graduate education for over 50 years. His advocacy work for national issues including diversity, accreditation, and intercollegiate athletics will provide incredible insight and support to Regent's mission of partnering with higher education to unlock financial aid for aspiring students."

About Regent Founded in 2006, Regent Education is a leading provider of software solutions that have revolutionized financial aid management and enrollment processes for schools using non-traditional enrollment models. Today, Regent 8, Regent's financial aid management system, is the only solution that provides seamless end–to-end automation for non-term, non-standard term, and standard academic years.

Regent is a nationally-recognized leader in results-driven enrollment optimization and financial aid management solutions that are web-based, easy-to-use, and interoperate with any existing student information system. Regent offers cloud-based solutions that help institutions increase enrollment, improve retention, speed student processing, mitigate compliance risks, and deliver bottom-line results.