Upon his departure from Rice University, the program evolved into the Gateway Study of Leadership program. On March 28, 2011, Michael Lindsay was announced as the eighth president of Gordon College and began his tenure on July 1 later that year. At age 39 when he assumed his position, Lindsay was the second youngest college president of any college or university nationally then ranked by "U.S. News & World Report". Lindsay's first research projects focused on evangelicals in leadership positions in America, which formed the basis for his dissertation, "Faith in the Corridors of Power". The dissertation drew upon over 350 interviews with evangelical leaders in business, government, cultural institutions, and religion. In 2007, the dissertation was published by Oxford University Press as "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite". "Faith in the Halls of Power" met with mostly positive critical reviews. It was listed in "Publishers Weekly"s "Best Books of 2007." However, Alan Wolfe of "The New York Times" criticized the work by saying that "too much of the book is uncritical." "The Economist", by contrast, called it "an impressive and admirably fair-minded book: anybody who wants to understand the nexus between God and power in modern America should start here." "Christianity Today" gave it first place among the Christianity and Culture category in their annual book awards. Following the publication of the book, Lindsay began research on senior leaders in general, launching the largest interview-based study of senior American leaders ever done. The PLATINUM study, an acronym for Public Leaders in America Today and the Inquiry into their Networks, Upbringings, and Motivations, aims to look at leaders in corporate, government, and non-profit life. He completed the research in the summer of 2011, having interviewed a total of 550 American leaders. His work has given him interviews with people such as Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, Robert Diamond, and Condoleezza Rice. Overall, Lindsay is the author of 24 scholarly papers, book chapters, and other peer-reviewed articles. His work has also been profiled in media outlets ranging from CNN to "The Wall Street Journal". He also has written in popular media such as "The Huffington Post" and "The Washington Post". On May 5, 2014, Lindsay, along with co-author M.G. Hagar, published "View From the Top: An Inside Look at How People in Power See and Shape the World" based on the work done in the PLATINUM study.