U. names Coopers partner EVP

Following a five-month nationwide search, Coopers & Lybrand partner John Anderson Fry has been selected as the University's new Executive Vice President. The executive vice president is the University's top financial officer. Fry directed the Coopers team that produced the University's administrative restructuring report in January. Although his appointment must still be confirmed by the University's Board of Trustees, University President Judith Rodin said yesterday that he will take office April 1. Fry replaces former Executive Vice President Janet Hale, who resigned last summer after a stormy 16-month tenure. Retired Temple University Executive Vice President Jack Freeman has served as acting EVP at the University since Hale's departure. Rodin said she is excited about Fry's appointment, citing his extensive experience in higher education management consulting as particularly impressive and important to the University. "He's the senior manager of [Coopers'] higher education practice and so he has spent over a decade developing and participating in this nationwide practice of consulting on cutting-edge issues in higher education administration," she said. Rodin added that "six or seven" of the scores of candidates screened by a national search firm were interviewed for the post from late October until recently. Three finalists were picked from this pool -- one each from the fields of higher education, corporate America and government. Fry was a logical choice for the post because of his close work with "dozens of university management teams" across the country, Rodin said. A graduate of Lafayette College, Fry received a master's of business administration degree from New York University's Stern School of Business. He has completed assignments ranging from planning and resource allocation design to enrollment and financial analysis for Columbia, Cornell and Tufts Universities, among others. "I can't imagine a background that would prepare someone better for our EVP position," Rodin said. "He is extremely bright, very focused and very innovative." Additionally, Rodin said Fry will "start well ahead of the game" because he is already familiar with the University's general structure -- and specifically with personnel in the Executive Vice President's Center, faculty members and deans. Fry said yesterday that he feels "wonderful" about becoming the University's next EVP, since the toughest part of administrative restructuring -- the determination of institutional priorities -- has already occurred. "I'm very bullish on the kind of depth of people we have in the institution to get stuff done," he said. "The real challenge is to manage the process of change that may be difficult in certain circumstances." Fry added that his immediate priorities are continued progress toward putting Rodin's campus safety initiatives into effect, implementing the Coopers administrative restructuring report and improving the quality of life for students, faculty and staff at the University. With Fry's selection, and the appointment of Vanderbilt's Anita Jenious as director of the Office of Affirmative Action last week, Rodin's administrative team is nearly complete. However, several positions in the Provost's Office -- including deputy provost, vice provost for university life, and executive assistant to the provost for external affairs -- remain vacant.

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