Deborah Shaffer, who has taken over Golding's position, saw a pay increase of more than $70,000.
Ohio University’s former vice president for Finance and Administration decided to step down from his position nearly a year ago, and he will receive more than a 10 percent pay cut in his newly-created role.
Stephen Golding, who began his role as senior vice president for Strategic Initiatives on April 1, decided to step down last spring and communicated that to OU's Board of Trustees, OU spokesman Dan Pittman said in an email.
Golding’s new salary will be $300,000, Pittman said. Golding was OU’s fourth-highest paid employee this academic year, earning a salary of $343,418, according to a previous Post report.
“With regard to stepping down from the VPFA position, my experience is that transitions are always a little unsettling, but they also hold tremendous opportunity and excitement,” Golding said in an email.
The transition was part of a previously established succession plan, Pittman said.
“Over the course of the past year, President (Roderick) McDavis has been talking with Mr. Golding about the importance of the OHIO for Ohio strategy for the future of the university and its eight regional campuses, extension campuses and centers,” Pittman said in an email.
"OHIO for Ohio" is a university effort to provide access to OU's learning community to students across the state, according to an OU news release. That access includes OU’s regional campuses, online education and the OU Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine campuses in Dublin and Warrensville Heights, outside of Cleveland, according to a previous Post report.
In his new position, Golding will work with Pam Benoit, executive vice president and provost, and the Athens campus deans to partner with the university’s regional and extension campuses, Pittman said. He will also work to expand OU’s partnerships with political and industry partners and communities supported by OU’s regional campuses.
Despite OU’s Athens campus seeing an increase in enrollment, regional campuses have seen the opposite, according to a previous Post report. OU’s Zanesville and Southern campuses were the only regional campuses to see an increase in enrollment from 2013 to 2014.
However, Pittman said OU's campuses and finances are in good condition.
“If I am successful, I will, in collaboration with the Provost and the Athens Deans, lay the foundation for the university to weather the declining demographics for Ohio’s traditional college bound students that we expect to see over the next eight to ten years and open up new markets that do not currently exist today,” Golding said in an email.
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Golding will also represent OU on the Athens County Economic Development Commission and serve as chief executive officer for the Dublin campus. The commission is a nonprofit organization that encourages entrepreneurship and helps businesses in the Athens area, according to its website.
OU also announced April 1 that Senior Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration Deborah Shaffer will take over Golding’s previous position. Shaffer’s new salary will be $306,000, Pittman said, nearly a 30 percent increase from her salary of $235,651 this academic year.
Shaffer will also serve as treasurer of the Board of Trustees and treasurer of the OU Foundation starting July 1, both positions that Golding currently holds.
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