Announcing Vice President searches
Dear Lumberjacks,
As I have shared over the last year, as our university evolves to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, powered by the vision and priorities of NAU 2025 – Elevating Excellence, we need an organizational structure that responds to the needs of our institutional work. A key part of this is a strong leadership team that embraces the vision and charge for their work, supported by a depth of talent across all areas. Today, following significant preparation and reflection, I am pleased to share a few updates regarding searches for key leadership positions.
Vice President for Advancement | Foundation and CEO of the NAU Foundation
Thanks to the thoughtful leadership and guiding hand of Senior Vice President for Engagement and Public Affairs Christy Farley, we are well-positioned to launch a national search for a new Vice President for Advancement | Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of the NAU Foundation. Over the last several weeks, we worked with stakeholders throughout the university and the NAU Foundation and NAU Alumni Association Boards to develop a profile and portfolio that is aligned with our institutional values for this crucial position.
We are looking for a visionary development professional who shares the ethos of our university and is committed to building public and private partnerships, philanthropy, and engagement that support our mission of equitable postsecondary value. A priority for this work will be leading a comprehensive capital campaign—an effort that was paused during the pandemic, but which is essential now more than ever to add external support to our aspirations as reflected in Elevating Excellence.
The search will launch soon with the partnership of a national search firm, with the following individuals from our NAU community serving on the committee:
- Kimberly Ott, Chair (Associate Vice President for Communications and Media Relations)
- Dave Franke (NAU Foundation Board Chair)
- Carmelle Malkovich (NAU Alumni Association Board President)
- Luis Fernandez (Professor and Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice and HSI Advisor to the Provost)
- Lauren Carson (Fiscal Oversight Analyst, University Advancement and SAC Member)
- Kevin Gustafson (Honors College Dean)
- Uri Farkas (Deputy Athletic Director)
- Ron Lee (Development Director for Native American Initiatives)
- Josh Maher (Associate Vice President for Community Relations)
Vice President for Capital Planning and Campus Operations
In addition, in the days ahead, we will begin the search for the Vice President for Capital Planning and Campus Operations. I am deeply appreciative of the work of our Senior Vice President for University Operations, Bjorn Flugstad, in leading all elements of our university’s operations over the past months during a time of great change and opportunity. With a strong foundation in place, it is now time to fill this position to support our physical plant, capital development, sustainability, grounds, maintenance, trades, transportation services, public safety, and other areas of campus operations.
We will search for a leader able to advance the numerous priorities of immediate importance to our entire university. These include leadership of our physical master planning process—which will complement Elevating Excellence and inform how we assess, utilize, and secure space throughout Arizona—the operationalization of our bold and essential goals around sustainability in our university operations, and development of our statewide infrastructure to support continued growth and development for our university.
I am pleased to share today the membership of the committee that will lead these efforts, which will be run by our university team and be posted immediately to solicit a strong pool of candidates from across the nation:
- Becky McGaugh, Chair (Associate Vice President of Contracts, Purchasing, and Risk Management)
- Faculty Representative (TBD nominated from the Faculty Senate)
- McKenzie McLoughlin (Staff Advisory Council Representative; Assistant Manager of Communications, Office of Communications and Media Relations)
- Brendan Trachsel (ASNAU President)
- John Georgas (Vice Provost for Academic Operations)
- Alicia Voytek (Associate Vice President for Housing and Residence Life)
- Andy Koppisch (Associate Vice President for Research)
- Erin Stam (Director of Parking and Transit Services)
- Stephanie Bauer (Director of Facilities and Maintenance)
- Jaime Axelrod (Director of Disability Resources)
- Brian Register (Chief of Staff, Office of the President)
The road ahead
For the searches noted above, time is of the essence. We will move quickly but intentionally, seeking new leadership that embraces our collective vision for the NAU of today that bring the skills and experiences essential to build the NAU of tomorrow.
Throughout these processes, we will keep our NAU community informed every step of the way and offer pathways for meaningful engagement with finalists as the time comes, including focused interviews with key stakeholders, broad forums with opportunities for direct engagement and feedback, and more.
I look forward to the important work ahead.
Sincerely
José Luis Cruz Rivera
President