Crosby Native Named DSU President
Publication: JournalND
Author: Jody Michael
Date: April 01, 2025
You can read the original article: Click here
Scott Molander, a Crosby native and 1983 graduate of Divide County High School, will become the new president of Dickinson State University on July 1.
The State Board of Higher Education selected Molander, an alumnus of Dickinson State, as the new president on Thursday night after interviews with four finalists for the position, according to a news release from the university.
“I’m just so humbled and honored beyond belief,” Molander told The Journal in a brief phone interview Friday. “That’s all I can say. I’m just so humbled and honored.”
Molander co-founded headwear retailer Hat World in 1995 and led an integration with its largest competitor, Lids, after acquiring it out of bankruptcy in 2001.
The combined company, headquartered near Indianapolis, grew to more than 1,300 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico during Molander’s time there, from 1995-2004 and 2006- 2016, and Lids remains a ubiquitous hat store chain in shopping malls nationwide.
In the years afterward, Molander was executive vice president at BSN Sports from 2016-17, president of Gared Holdings from 2018-19 and CEO of ASB Sports Acquisition in 2020.
Currently, Molander is a managing partner at the worldwide athletic clothing company Skins Compression and the garage remodeling company Garage Living, and serves on the faculty of Butler University’s Lacy School of Business in Indianapolis as a lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Molander was previously a finalist for the presidency at Williston State College in 2021 and then decided to try again with the Dickinson State job after it opened up last summer.
“One, it’s my alma mater,” Molander said. “Two, I really believe in higher ed, and it was just sort of the right time, I think, and I had sort of the right skill set for where DSU sits right now.”
Growing up in Divide County, Molander was known for having a standout high school basketball career, helping the Maroons to a state championship as a junior in 1982 and earning first-team all-state honors as a senior in 1983.
Molander went on to earn an associate degree from what is now Williston State in 1985, followed by a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Dickinson State in 1988, while also playing college basketball at both schools.
Molander also earned a master’s in business administration from Indiana State University and was later an adjunct professor there and at the University of Indianapolis before moving to Butler University.
With plenty of relatives still in North Dakota — including mother Donna, who continues to reside in Crosby — Molander was looking forward to the opportunity to move back to the Peace Garden State.
“I wouldn’t apply for a higher ed job anywhere else,” Molander said, adding, “Western North Dakota is where my heart is.”
Co-chairing the presidential search committee were State Board of Higher Education Vice Chair Danita Bye and DSU Acting President Ty Orton.
Molander thanked the various acquaintances from the Divide County area who had offered their support during the search process.
“And I want everybody’s high schoolers up there to come and join the Blue Hawk family,” Molander said.