Strategic leadership by Mission
with bold entrepreneurship
“This leadership has moved faster and further than any in history”

The President’s Cabinet, from left: Michael Eastman, Beth Sweitzer-Riley, Dave McFadden, Glenn Sharfman, Jo Young Switzer, Jack Gochenaur (Click on photo for enlargement) Related links: Number-cruncher and dreamer extraordinaire – Manchester’s CFO Off-camera with President Jo Switzer Manchester's Mission and strategic priorities More pictures from this article:

Dave McFadden, executive vice president, and now dean of the Pharmacy Program, with former Fort Wayne Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy at the groundbreaking.

Dean Glenn Sharfman and President Switzer follow students out of the first convocation of the year.

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry leads the applause for Manchester’s $35 million grant announcement.

OVERHEARD ON THE WALK to spring opening convo:

Student 1: What’s this convo about, anyway?

Student 2: President Switzer is the speaker.

Student 1: Oh. What’s she talking about?

Student 2: I don’t know her topic, but she’ll say what she always says. She’ll talk about ability and conviction, and our Mission.

The books say transformational leadership requires commitment, wnership and trust. High, contagious energy and positive attitude help, too. Cost-effectiveness also is key. So is communication – Manchester’s president would call that audience analysis and listening to your audience.

Stewardship and accountability: Manchester’s CFO can write a book of his own on that. Manchester is savvy about professional development, too: Its student development leader uses “manage up” leadership, empowering her directors to bring learning moments to the table.

On Dec. 1, 2004, nine months before her inauguration, Jo Young ’69 Switzer took her seat without fanfare behind the president’s desk. She
named admissions expert Dave McFadden ’82 executive vice president and sent him to the academic dean’s office to await the arrival of her replacement, Dean Glenn Sharfman. CFO Jack Gochenaur ’70 was already across the hall and Beth Sweitzer-Riley was settling into student development. Soon, Switzer would complete her team with fundraising mentor Michael Eastman.

Says Dave Haist ’73, a 22-year member (and former chair) of the Board of Trustees: “This leadership has moved faster and further than any in history.”

Since Dec. 1, 2004, Manchester has:

• concluded a $70 million fundraising (campaign started by the previous leadership) one year early, 37 percent over the original goal
  
  
• redesigned and reconstructed the College Union, adding an academic Success Center
  
  
• completed 80 percent of a new $100 million campaign, Students First!
  
  
• started a Pharmacy Program and opened a campus in Fort Wayne, making new friends in economic development, health services,
  education and government
  
  
• secured a $35 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for the Pharmacy Program
  
  
• raised millions of dollars in leadership gifts from Trustees and alumni
  
  
• repurposed Holl-Kintner Hall of Science, moving early into the new Academic Center and admissions Welcome Center
  
  
• budgeted during the economic downturn while increasing student financial aid and salaries
  
  
• added classrooms, locker rooms and athletic training areas to the PERC
  
  
• added master’s degree programs in athletic training and education
  
  
• enrolled the largest student body since the Vietnam Era, surpassing 1,300 students
  
  
• initiated a three-year degree program that attracted significant national, regional and state awareness of the Manchester story
  
  
• graduated 16 more recipients of the prestigious Fulbright awards for a total of 28
  
  
• grew the largest endowment in Manchester history, to $44.9 million
  
  
• developed a campus volunteer service “agency” so successful, President Obama recognized it
  
  
• announced the College would become a university on July 1, 2012

“This is not a place for the spineless,” says Michael Eastman, vice president for college advancement.

Manchester’s success is a blend of mission-focused entrepreneurship and leadership by four strategic priorities. Every decision, every budget decision, every employee evaluation looks to the four strategic priorities for inspiration. When Switzer and her cabinet report to the Board of Trustees, they speak in strategic priorities.

“The rubber meets the road in how those strategic priorities are enacted,” says Board of Trustees Chair Marsha Palmer ’68 Link. “President Switzer has done an excellent job of holding her team and herself accountable to them.”

During the 2009 economic downturn when other colleges and universities were batting down the hatches, Manchester used the time to rethink the
campus master plan. When many institutions spent the principal from their endowments to offset earnings losses, Manchester held fast.

The advancement team solicited endowed scholarship donors to give additional funds to offset losses to their endowments. “Many donors were happy to do so to ensure the students would not suffer,” says Eastman,
whom Switzer calls “the best role model about how to talk to donors and inspire them to want to give.”

In awarding the $35 million grant, Lilly Endowment Inc. praised Manchester for its “bold forward-looking plans.”

“Across the board, people believe (President Switzer) has done a tremendous job of strengthening the financial position and the student programming at the College,” reports national researchers SimpsonScarborough about its interviews with community leaders.

“Jo Switzer is a transformational national leader,” says Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges. President Switzer serves on the board of the 600-member Council. “She takes seriously the responsibility to foster the next generation of college leaders.”

Led by Jack Gochenauer, treasurer and vice president for finance, Manchester reduced costs, and pooled insurance and risk management with other members of Independent Colleges of Indiana.

As Manchester’s vice president for student development, Beth Sweitzer-Riley creatively and frugally ensures professional development of scores
of leaders (including students). She shoulders responsibility for student housing, health, counseling, volunteer service, safety, religious life, multicultural relations, and student activities.

“She really understands young adult development and helping students learn outside the classroom,” says President Switzer. “If I had to deal with some of the students Beth has to deal with, I couldn’t. I would ask them, “Why don’t you just grow up?”

Glenn Sharfman, vice president and dean for academic affairs, is “a big-picture academic leader” who embraces the tradition of outstanding, mission-focused Manchester faculty compassionate about working with young people, says Switzer, a former academic dean. Sharfman has hired engaged, excited teachers in almost every discipline and led restructuring of the core curriculum.

Dave McFadden spearheaded the Fast Forward three-year degree and Triple Guarantee programs that gained national attention and students. A professional Doctor of Pharmacy Program was his brainchild. On May 4, he assumed the Pharmacy dean’s office, while retaining his executive vice president hat.

Since Dec. 1, 2004, Switzer has served five different chairs of the Board of Trustees and has recommended more than a dozen new board members, including some non-alumni to bring fresh perspectives to decisions. Board members bring a wide range of views and a diversity of ideas to the table but share passionately a commitment to Manchester students, she says with pride.

“We’ve had more healthy debate then I ever remember,” says Link. “The diversity of opinions and perspectives are out in the open. I respect Jo’s absolute willingness to let diversity of opinion surface.”

While a new Pharmacy Program, a $100 million fund drive and new learning environments grab headlines, much that accompanies these new initiatives gets overlooked, says Switzer.

“We often don’t highlight the hundreds of ways we stay true to our Mission and stay accountable to that Mission.”

BY JERI KORNEGAY

Number-cruncher and dreamer extraordinaire – Manchester’s CFO

HE’S USUALLY BURIED in a spreadsheet, crunching numbers, but the vision of Jack Gochenaur ’70 spans the Manchester horizon, his eyes sparkling with the fun of it all. CFO Extraordinaire, the MC economics and business
administration major explores strategic opportunities for the College and, soon, for the University.

Gochenaur joined the President’s Cabinet as treasurer and vice president for finance in 2003, leaving the CFO post at Fortis Health of Milwaukee. He immediately improved the financial records and well-being of the College. He also implemented a Vision Fund that uses unrestricted estate gifts for Mission-based, strategic decisions.

“Jack is a rare combination of finance guy and dreamer,” says President Jo Young ’69 Switzer. “He can be both a strategic thinker and an accountant with attention to detail. He is as honest and ethical as they come.”

Gochenaur’s team is substantial in size and scope, encompassing the physical, fiscal and human resources operations of Manchester. In addition to the budgeting, investing and record-keeping for the College, his team manages student financial aid. All information technology, construction and maintenance unite under his leadership – on both the North Manchester and the new Fort Wayne campus.

Leaning heavily on Chris Garber ’77, associate vice president for financial affairs and director of operations, and a dozen other directors, Gochenaur leads a team of about 65 persons focused on making Manchester a great experience for students, employees and alumni.

They carry out initiatives ranging from a whole new campus in Fort Wayne to repurposing and greening buildings and spaces. Gochenaur is determined to provide learning and teaching environments that will carry on the Manchester Mission. “I want to leave Manchester better than I found it.”

BY CHAZ BELLMAN ’13

Off-camera with President Jo Switzer

Jo Young ’69 Switzer assumed leadership of Manchester on Dec. 1, 2004, the
first female president in the history of the College. For 11 years, she served as
vice president and dean for academic affairs. With a Ph.D. and master’s degree
in communication studies, she also taught at Manchester and IPFW.

Is your academic background in communication studies helping you lead?

A main principle from communication studies – ethical leadership – guides just about everything I do. I want to be fair and ethical. Aristotle said you
can’t communicate unless you are trustworthy, credible. You have to earn trust. Whether it is just one person or a big crowd – that trust is just huge.

Communication studies taught me the importance of audience analysis and to focus on my audience.

For your inauguration address, you quoted Dag Hammarskjöld: “For all that has been – THANKS! For all that will be – YES!” Does that still resonate?

That is sort of a life model for me. Life isn’t always good, fair and happy. And there’s goodness that comes from the hard times.

I’m thankful for the wrinkles of the setbacks, because they help us do better. When somebody pushes back on an idea that I have – it helps me clarify my thinking. It helps clarify the issue for me.

How do you do it all?

I have an ability to turn off the stressors of life when I am taking a break. It doesn’t mean that I don’t take Manchester seriously. I think about the College, but I don’t worry about the College. It’s in good hands.

Before you became president, you researched women in similar roles. What advice do you have for would-be female presidents?

The doors are open for you. Be who you are. If there are parts of higher education you don’t understand, find opportunities to learn. Take advantage of colleagues who are willing to serve as tutors and mentors. If you’re moving into a presidency, make sure you understand NCAA athletics. I was fortunate to have learned about NCAA Division III from my role as academic dean.

What really counts: Find a place with a mission you care about and give it your all.