Kasdin off to Columbia; transition committee formed

Kasdin (Photo by Bob Kalmbach, U-M Photo Services)

Interim President B. Joseph White has formed a Finance and Capital Projects Committee to handle the transition following the departure of Robert Kasdin, executive vice president and chief financial officer, after April 30. Kasdin will begin at Columbia University July 1 as senior executive vice president, a newly created position with broad responsibility for administration.

Members of the committee will be White; Paul Courant, interim provost; Lisa Tedesco, vice president and secretary of the University; Timothy P. Slottow, associate vice president for finance; Henry D. Baier, associate vice president for facilities and operations; Douglas L. Strong, associate vice president for Health System finance; and Sue E. Burnett, executive assistant to the CFO.

“I appreciate Robert’s contributions to the University and I wish him well,” White said of Kasdin’s departure. “The University has achieved outstanding financial health under his leadership.”

Kasdin’s most noted achievements at Michigan include strong investment returns and the receipt of an Aaa bond rating; the restoration of historic campus architecture including Hill Auditorium, the Rackham Building and Burton Tower; the sale of a 55-acre parcel of land to Pfizer for $27 million, in support of the University’s Life Sciences Initiative; and great strides in programs promoting environmental stewardship.

Kasdin said that Lee Bollinger, who will assume the presidency of Columbia in July, offered him the opportunity “to join a world-class university in a city that has been home to my family for almost a hundred years.”

Effective May 1, three individuals will report to directly to White on an interim basis: Slottow, Baier and L. Erik Lundberg, chief investment officer. Laura M. Patterson, associate vice president for administrative information systems, and Barbara S. Butterfield, associate vice president for human resources and affirmative action, and chief human resource officer, who have been reporting jointly to Kasdin and Courant, will report solely to the provost on an interim basis. Robert W. Moenart, executive director of University Audits, will report on an interim basis to Slottow.

White said a search for a new executive vice president and chief financial officer will commence after the regents make a permanent presidential appointment.