Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA'71, the senior vice president for University advancement who led the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, is retiring, he said yesterday.
Vanden Dorpel has agreed to remain at Brown until a search committee, whose members were announced Monday night, selects a replacement.
Vanden Dorpel's retirement, which he confirmed to The Herald yesterday, was announced by President Ruth Simmons a faculty meeting last week, a month after she sent a private letter to colleagues within the Brown community informing them of the news.
The main accomplishment of his seven-year tenure, the Campaign reached its original goal of $1.4 billion last May, 19 months before its scheduled completion date. The campaign is set to end in December 2010.
"Looking back seven years when we first recommended Ron, I don't think I could have imagined this whole enterprise would have been as successful as it has been," Simmons said in an interview. "I think it's been an incredible effort."
"Clearly, we're way ahead of our anticipated benchmark," Simmons said of the Campaign. "We know that we're going to overachieve our goal."
In an interview, Vanden Dorpel said his desire to travel, coupled with his coronary artery disease, led him to his decision to retire. He said he and his wife are planning to travel to national parks in Alaska and visit the Arctic Circle.
"I'm not quite ready for the rocking chair on the porch yet," he said. "I'd like to enjoy another 20 years."
Since Vanden Dorpel came to Brown in August 2002, new gifts and pledges have grown from a yearly average of $86 million to $227 million. The Brown Annual Fund has increased 105 percent, from $17 million to $35 million, vaulting Brown to sixth in the nation in alumni giving.
Under his leadership, the University also procured two $100 million gifts, one $50 million gift and, most recently, a $30 million gift in May to support scholarship aid. He also improved the alumni relations programs and oversaw enormous growth in international fundraising.
Simmons said the University selected Vanden Dorpel to lead a new advancement office that combined the previously separate development and alumni affairs units.
"His greatest accomplishment is bringing these units together," Simmons said, adding that his ability to hire, organize divisions and identify the right people to lead various facets of Brown's fundraising efforts were "phenomenal."
Vanden Dorpel has served in campaign advancement officer positions for 23 years. He spent 15 years at Northwestern University as chief development and alumni relations officer before coming to Brown, which he said was "long enough for any mere mortal." He is the longest continuously serving chief advancement officer among major research universities, according to Simmons.
Vanden Dorpel credited his successful tenure to his staff, volunteers and the Corporation, the University's highest governing body. "It's a group victory," he said.
The search committee, led by Executive Vice President for Planning and Senior Adviser to the President Richard Spies, will consist of three members of the Corporation — Chancellor Thomas Tisch '76, Vice Chancellor Jerome Vascellaro '74 P'07 and Chair of the Corporation Advancement Committee Anita Spivey '74 — alongside Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 and one senior faculty member, Professor of Classics David Konstan.
"It's a smaller group designed to be able to move in a pretty targeted way," Spies said. Though he said there was no specific timetable for selecting a replacement for the position, Spies said he hoped the committee would reach a final decision in "a matter of months," in order to keep the Campaign's momentum.
Simmons, too, said she could not anticipate when the committee would find a replacement, but she said if the last search for a similar position was any indication, the committee would make a decision in a few months.
She added that Vanden Dorpel's successful leadership — especially given the past year's economic downturn — has placed Brown in an excellent position for finding a qualified replacement.
"It's a great university," she said. "We're going to get some really outstanding candidates for the job."
