About the President
David A. Armstrong, J.D., is St. Thomas University’s 10th President. Since taking the helm August 2018, he has led the University to witness record enrollment, historic highs in fundraising, and the development of over 400,000 square feet of new facilities. The campus footprint has been expanded to include the Gus Machado College of Business, a 152-room residence hall, and a new Student Union and Dining Facility. In 2023, expanding on a partnership with Attorney Ben Crump, the law school was named the St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law.
Under his leadership, STU continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s fastest-growing faith-based schools of higher education. Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023 saw the five largest incoming undergraduate classes in university history. St. Thomas University was ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report in Social Mobility for regional universities in the South, which means STU takes students from the lowest financial strata and catapults them to a much higher financial strata in only 10 years.
Armstrong comes to St. Thomas University from Thomas More University, a Catholic liberal arts college belonging to the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, where he was President from 2013 to 2018. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, President Armstrong holds a Juris Doctor from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a Minor in Accounting, from Mercyhurst University.
Prior to Thomas More University, he served as Vice President and General Counsel of Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio, where he oversaw divisions of the college that set records in enrollment and fundraising.
His background in higher education administration at Notre Dame College, Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, includes a span of experience in development, student life, recruitment, higher education law and policy, and athletics.
Armstrong, a nationally recognized speaker on future trends of higher education law and Title IX, has dedicated his career to ensuring small, faith-based colleges and universities not only survive but thrive in the new landscape of higher education. His commitment to the transformative power of education has driven the colleges he has worked for to experience remarkable growth in enrollment, corporate partnerships, and collaboration. His vision has guided institutions into the future with comprehensive strategic plans, which emphasize student success, faculty innovation, and increased donor and alumni engagement and giving.
President Armstrong serves on the boards of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF), Students ACES, the Florida Council of 100, and the Florida Tax Watch.
He also serves on the Orange Bowl Committee and is a member of the Beacon Council’s Board of Directors. He is a member of the Sun Conference Executive Committee, and Mercyhurst Football Committee.
Armstrong is married to Leslie Armstrong, a former special education teacher with 18 years of experience in urban education. He has two children, David Balthazar, and Johanna Marie.
