Rupert A. Hayles Jr. is the new president of Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York. In this role, he will also serve as the fourth president of the Northeastern Seminary.
Roberts Wesleyan University enrolls about 1,000 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students, according to the latest statistics available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 14 percent of the undergraduate student body. Northeastern Seminary enrolls close to 200 students. Blacks are 31 percent of total enrollments.
Dr. Hayles has been serving for the past two years as president of Pillar College in Newark, New Jersey, a private evangelical Christian institution. He joined the administration there in 2019. Earlier, Dr. Hayles was chief operating officer of Christ Church (10,000 parishioners) and executive pastor of Life Christian Church (3,500 parishioners), both in New Jersey.
President Hayles is a graduate of Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, where he majored in accounting and information systems. He earned an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in organizational leadership at Regent University in Virginia Beach.
