For the past several years, community college presidents have retired at alarming rates. At the same time, institutional needs have shifted and new skill sets are often desired. These changes, coupled with a lack of leader succession plans, budget cuts, and an increased emphasis on accountability, created opportunities for candidates with non-traditional professional backgrounds to lead community colleges in the United States. Existing research and leadership theory models offer little insight into the potential links between community college presidents' prior professional experiences and institutional performance. This study examined the effect of prior experience on graduation rates and college revenue by comparing the professional backgrounds of a sample of community college presidents in the United States with their institutions' data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The results suggest the early emergence of a positive relationship between prior professional experience outside of the community college and college revenue trends over a period of time. Thus, researchers might consider ways to integrate prior professional experience with institutional characteristics and other measures of institutional performance, and additional inquiry may strengthen the opportunity for governing bodies to make data-driven predictions when hiring community college presidents whose professional backgrounds align agreeably with institutions' missions and goals. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]