President Shirley M. Tilghman has announced that, effective Sept. 1, the responsibilities currently combined in the position of vice president for finance and administration will be separated.
The treasurer of the University, Christopher McCrudden, will take on senior level responsibility for all matters related to finance, reporting directly to the president. Senior level responsibility for administration will be assigned to a new vice president for administration, also reporting directly to the president, as soon as the appropriate person to fill this new position can be found. The search for this new position will be conducted by Tilghman and will begin immediately.
"As a member of the presidential search committee last spring and then as a candidate for president, I came to believe that while Princeton does an excellent job of providing a broad range of administrative services, we needed to think about taking a fresh approach to the organization of our administrative staff," Tilghman said. "During my first few months in office, I have become persuaded that we should make this significant structural change."
With the reorganization, Richard Spies, who has served as vice president for finance and administration for the past 13 years, will be leaving his position, effective Jan. 1. Spies has played a series of critical roles at Princeton since he began working in the provost's office in 1971, taking on increasing responsibility within that office as assistant provost, associate provost and vice provost before his appointment to his current position in 1988.
"Dick will leave an indelible mark on much of the University through the financial strength that he has helped to insure, through the policies and procedures he has helped to develop, and through a variety of projects in which he has provided exceptional leadership, including his oversight of the construction of Princeton Stadium," Tilghman said.
Spies also has been a popular teacher in the economics department and has provided national leadership in a number of areas, chairing recent projects that have attempted to increase public understanding of the costs of higher education at a broad range of public and private colleges and universities and to develop a national pre-paid tuition plan for private colleges and universities. He also has provided important leadership for the state of New Jersey as chair of the state investment council that oversees investment of New Jersey public employees' pension funds.
The new vice president for administration will oversee the offices, except for the treasurer's office, that currently report to the vice president for finance and administration. These include the offices of facilities, human resources and public safety.
Joan Doig, the vice president for human resources, previously announced her intention to retire at the end of December. The search for her successor will be deferred until the new vice president for administration has been named. Daniel Scheiner, director of compensation, systems and operations in the human resources office, will serve as acting vice president for human resources from Doig's retirement until the search for her successor can be completed. His appointment as acting vice president will be effective Jan. 1.
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601