Exec VP to leave position

Marna Whittington will step down as the University's executive vice president at the end of the month to work for a private investment management firm, the University announced last week. Whittington, the University's top-ranking financial officer since 1988, oversaw administrative operations at the University, including finance, public safety, human resources, government relations, business services and real estate. "I have had eight terrific years at Penn," she said last night. "But I think I'm ready for a change." In her years at the University, she gained a reputation among colleagues as an efficient and innovative administrator who assembled a talented and committed staff. "I hope my legacy will be that I contributed to the academic aspirations of the University in a financially responsible way," she said. President Sheldon Hackney yesterday called the departure "a big loss" and described Whittington as "probably the best university administrator I've ever worked with." John Gould, executive director of the president's office, will fill in as acting executive vice president beginning September 30 and will remain until a replacement is found. Gould will retain his responsibilities in the president's office. An outside search firm, Diversified Search of Philadelphia, has been hired to conduct the search. Hackney said he hopes to name a replacement in the next 60 to 90 days. Echoing a number of colleagues, Hackney praised Whittington for strengthening the University's non-academic operation into a "very well-running, efficient and responsible enterprise." Whittington's "most immediate and important legacy," according to Hackney, will be her implementation of "Total Quality Management" -- increasing speed while cutting errors -- at all levels of the University. Colleagues credit Whittington with taking the concepts of TQM, long used in business to improve efficiency and productivity, and applying them to academia. "We need to maximize every dollar that Penn has," Budget Director Stephen Golding said. "And I think [Whittington] has been a leader in recognizing that that has to be done not only on the administrative side, but also in concert with the academic side." Whittington also drew praise for effectively managing the University's debt in recent years -- which colleagues said saved the University a considerable amount of money -- and for stabilizing the finances of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and its clinical practices. Comptroller Al Beers said one of Whittington's key strengths was her ability to "empower" her employees "to be the best they can be." Frank Claus, associate vice president for finance, who called Whittington "clearly the best employer" he has had, agreed. "One of her strongest [assets was] that she trusted her managers," he said. "She had great confidence in what we did and that is a wonderful way to work." Colleagues also praised Whittington for her command of the material in any given situation, whether lobbying state legislators for state funding or briefing the Board of Trustees on the University's finances. "At [University] Trustees' meetings when it came time to talk about the budget all eyes would turn to her and her credibility just filled the room," Claus said. Whittington came to the University in 1984 as vice president for finance. She was appointed senior vice president in December, 1988, after then-senior vice president Helen O'Bannon died of cancer. She became Executive Vice President in December 1991. Prior to coming to the University, Whittington spent five years in state government, including two years as Delaware's secretary of finance under former Governor Pete DuPont. After she leaves, she will join Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd in West Conshohocken, Pa., an investment firm founded by Trustee Paul Miller.