Dr. Steven Gentile

Executive Director, Tennessee Higher Education Commission

Dr. Gentile is the executive director at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), where he previously served as assistant director of fiscal policy and as chief policy and strategy officer. Before joining THEC, he worked as the assistant dean of admission and financial aid at his alma mater, Davidson College, in North Carolina. Gentile teaches education policy at Vanderbilt University, where his hands-on work in designing courses, preparing lectures and seminars, and assessing and developing education policy students strengthens his ability to affect change through higher education policy. He also engages in higher education research, investigating the effects of initiatives like Tennessee Promise on student debt, changes in federal PLUS loan regulations on HBCU enrollment, and the role of lottery earmarks in appropriation volatility. Gentile holds both a master’s of education and a doctor of education in higher education leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University plus a bachelor’s in economics from Davidson College. He is an alumnus of Leadership Tennessee NEXT, Nashville Emerging Leaders, and the Tennessee Higher Education Innovation and Leadership Fellows program.