Our Team

Brian Prescott is President at NCHEMS, where he sets the organization’s strategic direction and leads a team of accomplished and committed policy experts, information analysts, and creative thinkers working to improve how postsecondary education serves the nation’s needs. He also leads and supports projects on behalf of states, state agencies and systems, and institutions related to state strategic planning, postsecondary finance and affordability, governance and organization, demographics, and student success and workforce outcomes. Prior to coming to NCHEMS in 2016, Prescott spent over 11 years at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), where he co-managed the policy unit’s activities, led projects related to state financial aid, data systems development and use, and demographic projections, the last of which included authoring two editions of WICHE’s periodic Knocking at the College Door publication. He currently serves as a member of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Board of Directors, and previously served a two-year term as an appointed member of the National Association of College Admission Counseling’s (NACAC) board of directors.

Brian earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Virginia, and also holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the College of William and Mary.

When not working, Brian enjoys skiing, reading, cooking (almost exclusively by grilling, slow cooking, or using a cast iron skillet—and never ever with asparagus, which has no business polluting any meal), traveling, and trying to keep up with his two daughters.

As an independent and impartial nonprofit, NCHEMS has an unusual opportunity to be a change agent driving state and institutional policies to better serve state and students’ needs, especially among low-income and other historically marginalized populations. Our ability to craft solutions that overcome obstacles to needed change and are implemented gives my work meaning and impact.