Chapman University Appoints Matt Parlow Its 14th President

Today, Chapman’s Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Matt Parlow to serve as Chapman’s 14^th president, effective Sept. 2, 2025, following the planned retirement of current president Daniele Struppa from the Office of the President. Parlow currently serves as executive vice president, chief advancement officer and the Parker S. Kennedy Chair in Law at Chapman.

The appointment comes following a multi-month national search seeking a leader who is innovative, collaborative and passionate; possesses a track record of teaching, scholarship and professional experience in higher ed; and brings senior administrative leadership experience, high integrity and relationship-building skills.

“Matt exemplifies these qualities of transformative leadership, with more than 20 years in higher education and strong roots and achievements at Chapman University,” noted Parker S. Kennedy, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “Matt has forged strong connections with business, civic and community leaders, creating opportunities that benefit students, faculty and programs. These efforts reinforce the Chapman Family’s close-knit community and collective mission, which continue to inspire his deep commitment to the university.”

Vice Chair of the Chapman Board of Trustees, Jim Mazzo, led the successful search throughout the summer and fall with a representative search committee composed of members of the university. He remarked: “Chapman University has earned exceptional and transformational success over the last several decades, and we need a leader who will continue to advance its impressive track record of achievement. We are looking for the next president to take us to a higher road but not a new road. Matt will take us there and accelerate our progress even further.”

Over his 12 years at Chapman, Parlow has been instrumental in propelling the institution toward becoming one of the nation’s elite academic universities as a member of executive leadership and an administrator-scholar. Matt has led Inspire: The Campaign for Chapman University that has raised more than $400 million to date—the largest and most ambitious fundraising initiative in the university’s history. Prior to this position, Parlow enhanced the standing and performance of the Dale E. Fowler School of Law while serving as the dean and Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law. His accomplishments, among many, include improving the school’s U.S. News & World Report ranking by more than 20 spots and recruiting the most diverse and high-performing classes in the law school’s history.

“Chapman has a tradition of truly excellent leaders, most notably Daniele Struppa and, before him, Jim Doti. I am proud to follow in their footsteps,” Parlow said. “Over the last 30 years, we’ve transformed this university in ways that are the envy of all of higher education. Yet, with where we stand today, there’s still incredible potential and opportunity ahead of us that makes for a really exciting future.

“To me, this is also personal. I love Chapman. It’s been a home for me in so many ways, and it is a community I am deeply connected to, with so many people I care so much about. Chapman is special. I believe in our mission and the collective work that we do together that makes an impact on our students and the community. It will be my true honor to work with all of you in the role of president to elevate Chapman to help us achieve all our ambitious goals and to deepen our mission.”

Photo courtesy of Chapman University

Before joining Chapman, Parlow served as a professor and an associate dean for academic affairs at Marquette University Law School, where he improved the school’s skills-based course selection and employment ranking, and he taught property, land use, legislation and sports law—his area of academic expertise which he co-taught with Major League Baseball Commissioner Emeritus Bud Selig.

Earlier in his career, he practiced law at the prominent firm Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips and clerked for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also worked in the White House’s Office of the Legal Counsel and for the Office of Mayor Richard J. Riordan as a press deputy and policy analyst in Los Angeles, his hometown. He earned his undergraduate degree in history from Loyola Marymount University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

During this transition milestone, Chairman Kennedy praised President Struppa’s numerous contributions to Chapman over the last two decades. Struppa, who will return to Chapman’s mathematics faculty in September, is credited with elevating the institution’s rank and reputation, enriching and extending its research program and leading the university through change and challenge. “Chapman’s position for the future could not be stronger,” Kennedy observed. “We have leadership and financial strength, an amazing faculty and staff, an unmatched location, the right balance of tradition and innovation that students seek, and programs and facilities that are second to none. I am genuinely excited by what lies ahead.”

Added President Struppa: “I can’t imagine a leader more tailor-made than Matt Parlow to succeed me and lead Chapman into the future. Chapman is in excellent hands.”