Dr. Brent Gregory
9th President of East Central Community College


ECCC President Dr. Brent Gregory with his wife, Christi, and children Mary Lee (left) and McKinley.

Dr. Brent Gregory began his tenure as the ninth president of East Central Community College on July 1, 2020.

Gregory, who previously served as vice president for student affairs at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, replaced Dr. Billy Stewart, the college’s eighth president who retired after eight years in office.

His selection as ECCC’s ninth president was made at the March 2020 meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees.

A native of Nanih Waiya, Gregory is a 1996 graduate of ECCC.

Gregory had been vice president for student services at Southwest Mississippi Community College since 2017, where he was Title IX coordinator and supervised the offices of counseling and recruiting, financial aid, campus housing, campus police, college publications, disability services, and student activities, as well as all judicial affairs of the institution. He was a member of the college’s Administrative Council and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Committee for SMCC Reaccreditation.

He also served seven years as associate vice president for enrollment management at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead, where he was the college registrar and supervised the offices of admissions, counseling and recruiting, financial aid, distance learning and online education, dual enrollment, disability services, and work based learning, as well as the Career Center, Center of Learning and Tutoring Services, and library. He also oversaw Predominately Black Institution program grants in excess of $7 million.

Gregory has also served as an economics instructor, Workforce Investment Act (WIA) coordinator, and director of student life at ECCC, and as an instructor and coach for the Louisville Municipal School District.

After receiving his associate degree from ECCC, Gregory earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education and master’s degree in workforce training and development from the University of Southern Mississippi and his doctorate in community college leadership from Mississippi State University. He is also a graduate of the Education Policy Fellowship Program, Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy, Mississippi Community College Fellowship program, and holds Mississippi Virtual Community College certification.

Gregory is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges, Proposals Task Force Learning Management System for the Mississippi Virtual Community College, Mississippi Association of Community College’s Legislative Appreciation Planning Committee, and has participated on SACSCOC off-site review teams.

He and his wife, the former Christi Lee, have two daughters, McKinley and Mary Lee. Christi Gregory, a native of Philadelphia and a 1995 ECCC graduate, is a counselor at Newton County Career and Technical Center.