Wanted: a new vice president for Finance and Administration to immediately become one of Ohio University's top administrators, in charge of any and all fiscal matters.
Salary: about $240,000 annually, great benefits.
It sounds as if OU would be flooded with applicants for such a powerful and prominent position. Too bad no one seems to want the gig.
Replacing former Vice President for Finance and Administration Bill Decatur has become a lengthy process with few alternatives left. After abandoning its first round of finalists - in which two candidates dropped out and administrators decided not to hire the third - the prospects of OU's second crop is looking equally bleak. This time around, one of the three finalists has already dropped out, a second has yet to confirm whether she will even visit campus, while a third would have to take a large pay cut.
It's time for OU to rethink how it conducts this search. Stephen Golding, OU's only remaining finalist, is currently the interim chief financial officer at Wells College in Aurora, New York. As executive vice president of Cornell University in 2008, Golding earned $465,000 - significantly more than President Roderick McDavis' salary.
Considering Decatur's salary was about $245,000 in his final year here, OU will have its hands full convincing Golding to take a lower salary for a job with little competition. If that does not work, it looks as if administrators will go back to the drawing board.
This is not a good time to start overseeing the finances of OU. With the university cutting an estimated $15 million from its budget next year, the job requires cleaning up other departments' messes. That has become significantly more difficult with Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings, assistant vice president for Budget Planning and Analysis, recently announcing her departure to Otterbein College.
From here, OU can hire internally, select a new search firm or form a new search committee. Perhaps the current search firm, Baker and Associates, will finally find someone who can fix the university's budget crisis. But after running up a bill of $82,000 since Decatur left in January, OU might consider launching a search for another search firm. Filling this position right away is essential to making sure things do not get much worse.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors.
4 Opinion
Finance VP search runs dry as potential hires withdraw
