Two positions tied to financial health of UNH 

By Lori Wright, Media Relations

The university is conducting national searches for two key positions that play an integral role in the university’s financial health: vice president for finance and administration and president of the UNH Foundation.

Candace Corvey, vice president for finance and administration, is leaving at the end of December after nine years into “semi-retirement” to spend more time with family and friends. Young Dawkins, president of the UNH Foundation, has been at UNH for seven years and completed his final week last week (May 13) to become vice principal for development at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

“Throughout their tenure, Candace and Young worked tirelessly to optimize our financial health in the short-term and the long-term. Candace’s leadership in instituting Responsibility Center Management (RCM) decentralized how we approach budgeting, and created a system built on efficiency and keen financial management. Young guided the university through the most successful capital campaign in its history, which provided much-needed funding to improve our facilities and academic programs. We will miss their leadership and foresight, which has well-prepared UNH for its financial future. We wish them well in their new endeavors,” Hart said

“The vice president for finance and administration and the president of the UNH Foundation are the two key financial executives at the university. The searches for these two critical positions will focus on preserving institutional memory and identifying the best of new ideas to serve the core functions of the university, which is finance and fundraising,” she said.

Vice President for Finance and Administration
Corvey has successfully launched several initiatives at UNH. Five years ago, the university instituted RCM, a decentralized budgeting system that allowed for greater flexibility, accountability and efficiency in the fiscal budgeting process. According to Hart, she successfully implemented RCM in “an inclusive way, which resulted in buy-in by most of the campus.”

Corvey’s contributions also include assuming the chair of the Transportation Policy Committee and addressing issues head-on, resulting in a plan that resolved many longstanding issues. She directed the UNH Master Planning effort, resulting in a comprehensive plan for the future, and she worked with the provost and faculty AAUP bargaining team to fashion a contract without impasse or arbitration.

“Perhaps greatest of all, she has a style of working with people in a respectful, honest and straightforward manner that leads to sound decision making. She is a role model for all,” Hart said.

Going forward, Corvey said in the next five to 10 years, she is most concerned about the rising cost of medical benefits, insufficient funds for investment in UNH’s facilities, increasing requirements to invest in financial aid in order to remain affordable for qualified students, historic highs in the cost of energy, slow growth in state support, and threats to the federal budget that could impact funding for research.

“Our schools and colleges have done a remarkably good job of preserving quality to date, but that cannot continue indefinitely when our growth rate of revenue is structurally lower than that of expense. I know that a lot of very good people will be working hard to address these issues in creative and energetic ways,” she said.

“I am grateful to the very many people at UNH who have been kind to me and supportive of my work throughout my time here. I have enjoyed this community greatly and hope that I have had a positive impact. I will miss the good times.”

President of the UNH Foundation
Under Dawkins’ leadership, UNH received the largest individual gift in its history, set all-time records for both single-year and consecutive-year fundraising totals, and conducted the university’s most ambitious capital campaign, which raised $102.8 million in less than three years.

“The transition time for Young Dawkins is very opportune. Young is leaving the UNH Foundation following a period in which he has had a huge impact on its organization, effectiveness and structure. We are now working on the background and development for the next capital campaign, but we are not in the middle of this next campaign. He received this tremendous personal opportunity in Scotland, so his succession happens at a good time,” Hart said.

According to Dawkins, when he arrived at UNH, he saw “something akin to greatness. The foundation staff and I set about to make this a great university through our fund-raising efforts. From ocean mapping, to psychology, from a first-rate, award-winning renovated library to scholarships for UNH students living in the North Country, some of its greatness has been achieved. Our capstone, the capital campaign, promised a Next Horizon. And when the campaign was finished, we were at that next horizon.”

A national search for the next president of the UNH Foundation is under way under the leadership of David Brownell of Stratham, vice chair of the foundation’s board of directors. The next president of the UNH Foundation is expected to come on board in the fall. A national search for the vice president for finance and administration is also under way, with the new vice president expected to join UNH in January 2006.