On May 4, 2017, President Vinton Thompson announced that he will step down as MCNY’s 5th president in May 2018, after 10 years in office. Dr. Thompson’s service has been an inspiration and has helped build the solid foundation that the college enjoys today.
Now, the MCNY Board of Trustees seeks to identify an exceptional individual to become the next president. The board has selected a partner, R.H. Perry, to assist in the search.
This page provides additional information about the search and will provide continuing updates to the entire MCNY community at key points throughout the process.
Candidate Profile
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Members of the MCNY Community,
After ten years of exemplary service, President Thompson has decided to retire in May of next year. And while I deliver this news with a heavy heart, I share it with even greater feelings of admiration and pride. Dr. Thompson’s service has been an inspiration, leading us all through some of the college’s most challenging times, so we would be able to create the solid foundation that we enjoy today.
President Thompson shared his intention to work through 2018 with our Board of Trustees more than two years ago, and we are in the enviable position of beginning a transition more than a year in advance. We all owe Dr. Thompson an enormous debt of gratitude for his accomplishments. Today our mission is strong and we have two new permanent homes – all due to the great efforts of Dr. Thompson and the entire MCNY team. Over the next year, together, we will find appropriate ways to celebrate his service with the entire community.
Many of us were involved with the search that selected President Thompson, and so we know from experience, that a presidential search can be both challenging and rewarding. It is also a unique opportunity to reflect on MCNY’s accomplishments and for us, as a community, to consider how to best approach the College’s future with our history and mission in mind. I look forward to working with you all towards this end.
We are at the beginning stages of this transition. MCNY is fortunate to have President Thompson’s leadership for another year. The Board of Trustees has already selected a search firm R.H. Perry to assist us in our search, and is developing a broader search committee. We hope all members of the community will share their thoughts and opinions about MCNY’s future President via our open public forums, or through our community survey.
The Board of Trustees is excited about this next step for MCNY and we look forward to your involvement as we move through the process. We know we can count on our alumni, students, faculty and staff to engage with us in this college-wide Constructive Action.
Sincerely,
Charles Armstrong
Chair, Board of Trustees
September 18, 2017
Dear Members of the MCNY Community,
As we dive back into fall at the College, I am writing to update you on the progress of MCNY’s Presidential Search. As I first announced back in May, President Thompson will be retiring in May 2018 after what will be ten years of distinguished service to MCNY. Over the summer, we hosted a series of Community Forums to hear from all different stakeholders what you would like to see in our next President. I am grateful to all those who participated in the forums or completed our stakeholder survey.
In partnership with our search firm, RH Perry, our Presidential Search Committee has honed this feedback into a Candidate Profile that is now public on our website. This is the profile we will use to attract our next President.
I am honored to chair the Presidential Search Committee which began their work this fall. On the committee, I am joined by several of my Trustee colleagues, Lyn Hensle-Hirsch, Melanie Schnoll Begun, Andrew Davidson and Al Cafaro. Some Trustees, also on the committee have special connections to MCNY – Connie Robinson-Turner is also an alumna of the MPA program, Frances Walton is the daughter of Barbara Walton, who helped develop Purpose-Centered Education, and Thomas Webber is a former member of faculty. Ultimately, the Board of Trustees will make the final selection, and the involvement of so many Trustees in the process is truly outstanding.
But Trustees are not MCNY’s only stakeholders. The Committee also has key full-time faculty representation from Dr. Rachel Yager, who also serves as Chair of the Faculty Council, Dr. Theodor Damian and Dr. Pamela Ransom. Cheryl Thomas is another faculty representative; she is both an alumna and adjunct faculty member. MCNY’s staff is represented by Joshua Perez, Director of the Bronx Campus, and two students round out the committee – Kimberly Clemente is an MPA student in the Bronx and also an alumna of the Human Services program, and Zanvenena West-Duprey, a business student.
Now that our Candidate Profile is public, we need your help yet again. Please take a moment to review the profile and think about your own network. Do you know someone MCNY should be talking to? Go to our nominations section of the website and please let us know!
Sincerely,
Charles Armstrong
Chairman, Board of Trustees
December 19, 2017
Dear Faculty & Staff,
Before we all head off to spend the holidays with our families, I wanted to share a brief update on MCNY’s Presidential Search.
The Presidential Search Committee has been working in overdrive since we connected with you earlier this semester. We had a large pool of applicants from across the country interested in being the next president of MCNY. I want to thank everyone who reached out to their own networks to share this opportunity. We were very pleased by the depth and breadth of experience our candidates presented.
I am delighted to share that the search committee hosted a round of semi-finalist interviews earlier this month and has selected a diverse group of four, highly qualified, finalist candidates to visit campus early in the New Year. More details will follow in January when we announce both the candidates and the dates of their visits.
I’d like to ask everyone to be ready to participate in conversations with the candidates. We will be bringing them to campus both so that they can learn more about MCNY, but also so we can learn more about them. We will need you to engage with them and share your feedback with the search committee. The trustees have to make the ultimate decision on who will become our next President, so your input is crucial!
Happy Holidays and warm wishes for the New Year! 2018 will surely be an exciting one for us all!
Sincerely,
Charles Armstrong
Chair, Board of Trustees
Finalist Visits
MCNY’s Presidential Search Committee has invited four finalist candidates to campus. The entire MCNY community is invited to meet the candidates and share their perspectives with the Board of Trustees.
Search Partner
Metropolitan College of New York has selected R.H. Perry & Associates to assist in the search for its next president. R.H. Perry is one of the most respected and most successful executive search firms serving higher education today.
MATTHEW J. KILCOYNE is Managing Partner with R. H. Perry & Associates. Based in New York City, Matt has led, or been a team member on, over 200 presidential and senior administrative higher education search assignments. He focuses on all aspects of the search process, including needs analysis and the pre-search study; marketing, candidate identification and recruitment; evaluation and screening; candidate due diligence; and selection and transition.
Matt has been a member of the search team for nearly 100 presidential search assignments, including the College of Saint Joseph, Green Mountain College, Marymount University, New England College and Wheeling Jesuit University. Most recently, he has completed presidential search assignments for the College of Saint Elizabeth and Iowa Wesleyan College (2013); Fontbonne University and Seton Hill University (2014); Anna Maria College, Hood College, Mercyhurst University, Marian University (WI), Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the University of Saint Joseph and Wesley College (2015); Lewis University, Marietta College, the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and Utica College (2016); and the College of Our Lady of the Elms and Immaculata University (2017). He is currently leading the presidential search assignment for the Independence Mission Schools.
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ROGER H. (RUSTY) MARTIN, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, brings over 40 years of experience in higher education administration to our presidential search practice. Rusty has successfully completed presidential searches for College of Saint Elizabeth, Fontbonne University, Iowa Wesleyan College, Seton Hill University and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
For 20 years Dr. Martin served as president of two liberal arts colleges in the United States, Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia and Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. From 1980 to 1986, Rusty was the associate dean at Harvard University’s Divinity School; Executive Assistant to the President and Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees at Middlebury College; and in development positions at New York University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Read moreSearch Committee
Staff to Committee:
Sima Saran Ahuja, General Counsel
Beth Dunphe, Chief Development Officer