The University is in the process of a vice chancellor for advancement search, and the search committee had its first meeting last week.
According to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business Charles Leffler, co-chair of the search committee, the current vice chancellor for University advancement, Terry Wood, announced he will retire in 2008.
“What the chancellor wanted to do was to proceed with getting a new person on board to help with the transition,” Leffler said.
Leffler said the chancellor appointed 10 members for the committee. His charge included a job description for the vice chancellor for advancement, which the committee is working on refining. He said it is beginning the search so early because it doesn’t want to have a pause in the work and campaign efforts.
“What you don’t want to happen is have someone leave in 2008 and have someone come in 2008 and start thinking about a new campaign,” Leffler said.
According to Student Body President Will Quick, the chancellor wanted to have a new vice chancellor ready for the fall of next year.
“Our [committee’s] recommendation is the early summer,” Quick said.
The University hired a search firm to aid its search for a new vice chancellor, according to Quick.
“We were able to meet the folks from the search firm,” Quick said.
The search firm, Witt/Kieffer will serve as a search consultant that will interview candidates for the position.
“In positions like this, you generally find your best candidates through these networks,” Leffler said.
Leffler said the firm’s job is to find qualified people for the position in the U.S. or abroad, or even those not currently looking for jobs.
“A lot of it depends on what’s available in the market,” Leffler said. “Quality is not the goal here — it’s people that meet criteria.”
Quick said the committee is not looking for someone who is new to the job, especially since the University has the opportunity of “recruiting some of the best in the field.”
“We certainly need someone who is top-notch in the field, someone who is experienced in the field of fundraising,” he said.
Leffler said the committee is looking for a candidate who is experienced in University development, fundraising activities, development of an alumni base, public affairs efforts and who will work well with the chancellor.
“The chancellor is going to rely on this person to deal with a lot of information that affects our image,” Leffler said.
Quick said the search will probably attract a “good pool of people” because of the University’s programs.
“It’s important that the person understands the culture of the community, the state of North Carolina and who our alumni are,” he said.
Leffler said the new vice chancellor’s relationship with the alumni is crucial to the University’s fundraising efforts because alumni are some of the University’s biggest donors.
Witt/Kieffer will find candidates who meet the committee’s criteria, do screenings, conduct initial interviews and narrow the list of candidates down to about a dozen for the search committee to interview and decide on, according to Leffler. He said the chancellor asked the committee to provide him with three to five candidates.
According to Leffler, when the new person is hired, Wood will stay on staff taking a different position. He said Wood will become more of an adviser.
“These are all decisions the chancellor will make,” Leffler said.
Leffler said employees in these types of positions are generally paid upwards of $200,000.
“These types of positions are in high demand because it’s one of those positions that the qualified person can pay their salary back every month [through fundraising efforts],” Leffler said.
According to Leffler, the committee will meet one more time before the firm starts its search and will then meet about five to six more times within the next five months.
