Two finalists will visit Ohio University this month to interview for the university’s chief fundraising position, a job that has been vacant since the end of Fall Quarter.
An OU search committee along with the national search firm Witt/Kieffer named Lori Lewis, currently vice president of advancement at Marietta College, and Bryan Benchoff, currently president and CEO of the University of South Dakota Foundation, finalists for the vice president for University Advancement position. OU will pay Witt/Kieffer one-third the winning candidate’s first-year salary.
Lewis will visit campus to meet with OU employees and students as part of a day-long interview this Thursday and host an open forum from 2 to 3 p.m. in Baker University Center room 219. Benchoff’s on-campus interview is April 14 and will include a similar open forum from 3 to 4 p.m. in Baker room 219.
Those who attend the open forum will have an opportunity to provide feedback to the search committee before it makes a final decision. The committee, which hopes to fill the position by July 1, interviewed seven semifinalists in Columbus before asking Lewis and Benchoff to come to campus.
“The committee felt like out of all the candidates we had, these had the breadth of experience and understanding of a comprehensive advancement inner-workings,” said Kent Smith, vice president for Student Affairs and head of the OU search committee. “ … We interviewed some great people, but it boiled down to (two to) fit for the committee.”
Lewis received two degrees from OU and previously worked for the fundraising departments in OU’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology and the former College of Health and Human Services. Although Benchoff has not worked at OU previously, he has worked on two major fundraising campaigns for West Virginia University.
Both Lewis and Benchoff said they are eager to work on OU’s Promise Lives campaign, which began about four years ago and seeks to raise $450 million by June 30, 2015. As of February, OU had raised about $231 million.
Howard Lipman, the former vice president for University Advancement, accepted a similar position at Florida International University earlier this school year, leaving behind a half-finished fundraising campaign. Lipman last earned $232,000 a year in the position.
Benchoff, who has previously worked on a campaign that raised about $334 million for West Virginia University, said completing the Promise Lives campaign is a top priority.
“When this campaign is over, it isn’t just that OU raised ‘x’ amount of dollars, but that the university would be in a good position to keep that train rolling and build for the future.”
Lewis, who just finished working on a fundraising campaign for Marietta College, also said the Promise Lives campaign is one factor that attracted her to the position at OU.
“My motivating factor is really to join (OU President Roderick) McDavis in his vision and I certainly am very interested in bringing a successful conclusion to the Promise Lives campaign,” she said.
McDavis has been serving as interim vice president of University Advancement since Lipman’s departure.
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