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Penn Notables

University Leaders Executive Vice Presidents, 1944-present

This history was inspired by the chronology found in Martin Meyerson's and Dilys Pegler Winegrad's Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach (1978) but has now been substantially enlarged and interpreted by Mark Frazier Lloyd and Mary D. McConaghy, with the assistance of Michael T. Woods

Executive Vice President

  • William Hagan DuBarry (February 1944 – December 1953)
    (in January 1954 the Trustees elected him Vice President for the Corporation, a semi-honorary position he retained until his death in March 1958)

Following the reorganization of January 1954, no person held the title “Executive Vice President” or “Senior Vice President” during the Harnwell administration. Harnwell was comfortable working directly with four Vice Presidents – Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs; Vice President for Coordinated Planning (facilities and real estate); Vice President for Development; and a Vice President and Assistant to the President (chief of staff) – to manage the non-academic side of the University. To some extent, Harnwell created vice presidencies in response to the emergence of different University priorities.

In August 1970, at the very end of his tenure, the report of the Task Force on University Governance called for the re-establishment of a “Senior Vice President,” to whom all the other Vice Presidents should report. In 1972 Harnwell’s successor, Martin Meyerson, named a

Vice President for Management

  • Paul O. Gaddis (February 1972 – March 1975)

The Almanac reported on 22 February 1972 that this new position “will be to take care of the areas of administration related to management planning and control, facilities, management systems development, and other activities which serve academic programs. This position’s creation was recommended in the report of the Task Force on University Governance in September 1970.” In March 1975 the Trustees changed the title to

Vice President for Management

  • Paul O. Gaddis (February 1972 – March 1975)

The Almanac reported on 22 February 1972 that this new position “will be to take care of the areas of administration related to management planning and control, facilities, management systems development, and other activities which serve academic programs. This position’s creation was recommended in the report of the Task Force on University Governance in September 1970.” In March 1975 the Trustees changed the title to

Senior Vice President for Management

  • Paul O. Gaddis (March 1975 – December 1978)

The Almanac reported on 4 March 1975 that this and other administrative changes were “designed to augment the capacities of the University to function within the current difficult environment for private institutions of higher learning … with no increase in the number of senior staff within the Administration.” At the same time the title of the Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs was changed to Vice President and Treasurer, with the long time incumbent, Harold E. Manley, shifting his job duties to those defined for the new position. With the change, Manley reporting line shifted to Gaddis. On 4 March 1975 the Almanac also reported that John C. Heatherston would take a six-month leave of absence from his position as Vice President of Physical Facilities and that Gaddis would assume Heatherston’s responsibilities. Within a month Gaddis created the new position of Vice President for Operations Services and appointed Fred Shabel to the post.

In December 1978, when Gaddis left the University, Meyerson did not appoint a successor, but instead promoted Jon C. Strauss to the position of Vice President for Budget and Finance. In June 1981, when Strauss resigned, Meyerson’s successor, F. Sheldon Hackney, named an

Executive Vice President

  • Edward G. Jordan (October 1981 – August 1982),

who had responsibility for three Vice Presidents – Budget and Finance (vacant), Personnel Relations / Human Resources (Gerald L. Robinson / Gary J. Posner), and Operational Services (Arthur F. (“Bud”) Hirsch) – and two Directors – Communications (Mary Perot Nichols) and Government Relations (James E. Shada and James H. Robinson). When Jordan resigned, Hackney named a Vice President for Finance (Paul Gazzerro, Jr.) as chief financial officer of the University and elevated the Associate Vice President for Human Resources (Posner) to a full vice presidency, both of whom, along with the Vice President for Operational Services (Hirsch), reported directly to the President. This continued for about a year, when Hackney named a

Senior Vice President

  • Helen B. O’Bannon (September 1983 – October 1988)
  • Marna C. Whittington (December 1988 – December 1991)

In December 1991 the Trustees changed the title of the position to:

Executive Vice President

  • Marna C. Whittington (January 1992 – 1992)
  • John Wells Gould (1992 – 1993), Acting Executive Vice President
  • Janet S. Hale (1993 – 1994)
  • Jack E. Freeman (1994 – 1995), Acting Executive Vice President
  • John A. Fry (1995 – 2002)
  • Clifford L. Stanley (2002 – 2003)
  • Craig Carnaroli (2004 – present)