SU's Lepre, Weer Again Named Among Maryland's Top 100 Women
SALISBURY, MD---Two Salisbury University leaders have been named among Maryland’s Top 100 Women for 2025 by The Daily Record and BridgeTower Media.
The Baltimore-based newspaper featured SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre and Dr. Christy Weer, dean of SU’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, on this year’s list, highlighting high-achieving women in Maryland who are making an impact through their leadership, community service and mentoring. This is the second Top 100 honor for each of them.
“I am honored to be named among Maryland’s Top 100 Women for the second time,” said Lepre. “Receiving this accolade is incredibly meaningful, but what means the most to me is being included on a list with so many incredible women, including Dr. Weer. Together, we are working to strengthen Maryland’s educational institutions, healthcare facilities, businesses, government operations and much more.”
“It is a privilege to again be named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women,” said Weer. “I am proud to serve our students and community and even more excited about the growth I have witnessed in the Perdue School over the past decade-plus. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Perdue School and for SU.”
Dr. Carolyn Ringer Lepre
Since becoming SU’s 10th president in 2022, Lepre has enhanced the Eastern Shore campus in many ways. Under her leadership, SU has established a formalized graduate school; added new academic programs in high-impact areas, including a B.S. in engineering physics and M.A. in public communication; and signed partnership agreements with agencies including NASA and the Maryland Army National Guard to enhance learning and career opportunities for students.
She also has worked to expand the University’s study abroad opportunities, including new SU Global Campus programs in Scotland and Spain. Other new initiatives have included partnering with the Association of College and University Educators to improve student access through inclusive teaching practices; establishing a First Gen Sea Gull Scholars Program to enhance the recruitment, retention and graduation of first-generation students and help them thrive on campus; and a program to enhance understanding and implementation of strategies to assist students in successfully transitioning off academic probation.
Emphasizing diversity and inclusion as a priority, Lepre expanded SU’s President’s Cabinet to include SU’s inaugural vice president of inclusion, access and belonging. She also centralized funds to provide ASL interpreters at more campus events. Building on SU’s legacy of environmental excellence, she prioritized funds to create a student-driven campus thrift shop, diverting usable items that otherwise may have gone to landfills; and procured a state investment that will help turn the campus’ 1957 former library building into one of the University System of Maryland’s first net-zero buildings as a student service center.
Lepre’s influence also has extended to SU Athletics, where she hired the University’s first female director of athletics and campus recreation, and reinstated golf (both men’s and women’s) as a varsity sport for the first time since the 1980s. Likewise, she hired the University’s first marching band director in more than 40 years, with the expectation of reinstating that program in time for the start of the SU Centennial Celebration in fall 2025.
This has all been done through the framework of the “Salisbury Seven,” a seven-point blueprint for SU’s future success established by the President in 2023 with a focus on investing in people; commitment to inclusion, equity and belonging; serving the needs of the state and local communities; high-impact practices; resources; and identity and reputation building.
In addition to her Top 100 Women honor, Lepre also has been named to The Daily Record’s Higher Education Power List and its list of Maryland’s Most Admired CEOs.
Dr. Christy Weer
Weer earned her M.B.A. from SU in 1996. After working several years in the insurance industry and receiving her Ph.D. from Drexel University, she returned to SU as an assistant professor of management in 2009. She served three years as associate dean, starting in 2011, before becoming interim dean in 2014 and moving into her current position in 2015.
Under Weer’s leadership, the Perdue School’s programs have grown exponentially, positioning it as a regional leader in business education.
The Perdue School’s entrepreneurship programs have grown tremendously in the last decade. In 2023, the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation renewed its sponsorship of SU’s annual Ratcliffe Foundation Shore Hatchery competition for entrepreneurs in the Mid-Atlantic. Other sponsorships have grown the prize pool for SU’s annual student Entrepreneurship Competitions and together, these initiatives allow the Perdue School to award up to $300,000 in startup funding annually. In 2021, the Perdue School expanded its entrepreneurial offerings, opening the Rommel Center for Entrepreneurship at SU Downtown in downtown Salisbury.
During Weer’s tenure as dean, the Perdue School saw another landmark moment in 2015 with the reinvigoration of the University’s Mid-Atlantic Sales and Marketing Institute (MASMI) as a resource for students interested in sales careers. A member of the University Sales Center Alliance, MASMI has hosted the National Shore Sales Challenge, attracting students from dozens of colleges and universities throughout the U.S. to the annual sales competition.
In addition to her work at SU, Weer is engaged with the community as a member of the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce Voting Council and the Wicomico County Tourism and Civic Center Commission, and as a founding member of the Greater Salisbury Women’s Leadership Council.
In addition, she serves on the Maryland Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Advisory Board, is on the Business Program Advisory Board for Delaware Technical Community College, chairs the Wicomico County American Cancer Society Volunteer Leadership Council and is president of the Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development (SWED) board of directors. In addition, she serves on the board of visitors and governors for her undergraduate alma matter, Washington College.
Weer also is active in her profession, serving as an at-large board member of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration (MAACBA) and as past-chair of the AACSB Women Administrators in Management Education (WAME) Steering Committee. She recently was named among Leadership Maryland’s Executive Program Class of 2025.
An awards celebration for this year’s Top 100 Women honorees is scheduled Monday, May 5, at Towson University. For tickets or more information visit the .
Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at the SU website.