David A. DeCenzo became the second president of Coastal Carolina University on May 7, 2007.

DeCenzo joined Coastal's administration in 2002 when he was named dean of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. He was named provost and senior vice president of academic administration in May 2006. Before joining the Coastal faculty, DeCenzo served as director of partnership development in the College of Business and Economics at Towson University in Maryland from 1999 to 2002. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maryland College Park and a master's degree and Ph.D. from West Virginia University.


An experienced industry consultant, DeCenzo has served a wide variety of clients including Citicorp Global Technology, Moen Inc., Motorola and others. His major academic interests are in human resource management, management and organizational behavior. He is the author of textbooks that are used widely at colleges and universities throughout the United States and the world. He serves on the board of directors of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Center, and he served a two-year term on the Conway Chamber of Commerce's board of directors.

As dean of Coastal's Wall College, DeCenzo led the move to establish a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. He also helped create the Wall Center of Excellence, designed to enhance and reinforce business students' skills through experiential learning. As provost, he instituted Centers for Excellence to support student internships, research and travel in each of the university's four colleges.

DeCenzo and his wife, Terri, have four children. Visit Dave's Blog