Set in 2023, this study was deployed at the lowest point of enrollment in the California Community College (CCC) system since 2008, which was the highest point of enrollment in the system's history. The purpose of this qualitative, grounded theory study was twofold: (a) to understand the phenomenon of California community colleges (CCCs) predominantly lacking the cabinet-level position of a chief enrollment management officer (CEMO), and (b) to develop a theoretical model for CCC presidents to consider if a president was to add a CEMO position to their executive cabinet. This study employed the epistemological framework of pragmatism and the theoretical frameworks of institutional theory, the SEM administrative orientation, and the IEPI SEM organizing framework to answer two research questions to explain the phenomenon and to develop the grounded theory. Interviews with 16 CCC presidents produced the phenomenological explanation that coercive isomorphic influence by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, a predilection to the SEM academic orientation, and a lack of urgency presently explain the lack of a CEMO position on a CCC president's cabinet. Based on three overarching themes--(a) indoctrination, perpetuation, and systemization of California community college structures, (b) abdication, abduction, and accountability of SEM responsibility, and (c) imagining the unimaginable: envisioning a CCC CEMO--this study produced a 9-item model that presidents can use to assess an institution's readiness for a CEMO, to build the CEMO position, and to implement the role within a CCC. [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://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]