Dr. Richard Cosentino, vice chancellor for Finance and Administration at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Pembroke, has been named president of Lander University. Jack Lawrence, chair of Lander's Board of Trustees, said Cosentino was the unanimous choice of the trustees, when they met this afternoon.
He will become Lander's 13th president, succeeding Dr. Daniel Ball, who will retire on June 30 after serving 15 years as president. Only four other presidents, including the school's founder, the Rev. Samuel Lander, have served longer.
Cosentino was one of three finalists nominated by the Presidential Search Committee following a nationwide search that began early last spring. The executive search firm of Coleman Lew + Associates, of Charlotte, N.C., assisted in the selection of potential candidates.
Lawrence said, "Dr. Cosentino possesses an impressive academic background, considerable experience in higher education and diverse skills that align with the current and future needs of Lander." He added, "He also shares our commitment to Lander's mission of providing a challenging and rewarding education to qualified students."
Cosentino described himself as very excited about becoming Lander's next president. He said he was impressed with members of the board and the faculty and students that he met with during his visit to campus. He said, "Lander is strong and bright. I'm joining a winning team." He said he has a lot of thoughts on positioning the university to be successful in what he characterized as a very challenging environment for higher education.
He found Greenwood to be a very welcoming community for his family. "The people were very friendly." He and his wife, Jessica, have two children: Emily, 18, a freshman at North Carolina State University, and John, 14, who is in high school.
Cosentino has a bachelor's degree in business administration with a major in finance and a master's in strategic financial planning from the University of Baltimore, in Baltimore, Md. He received a doctorate in engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He has over 20 years of experience in higher education as a senior administrative and financial executive and a background in fundraising, enrollment management and government relations.
In his position at UNC at Pembroke, Lander's new president-elect is the chief financial officer and senior administrator of the university He also serves as the adviser to the chancellor and the school's Board of Trustees on all matters associated with fiscal and administrative issues.
Prior to UNC, Cosentino served as an assistant and an associate vice president for Finance and Administration at The George Washington University, and as vice dean for Finance and Administrative Affairs in the university's School of Engineering and Applied Science. He has also worked as senior budget manager at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and as director of Budget and Finance and senior administrator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, both schools in Baltimore.
He taught graduate-level courses at George Washington, including organizational behavior, the management of technical organizations, human resources management and fundamentals of systems engineering.
Cosentino's term as Lander's president will begin on July 1.