News

John Morning – Artist, Director, Community Servant

The R. H. Perry Foundation is thrilled to add long-time friend and advocate for higher education, John Morning, to its Board of Advisors. Beyond his work as a graphic designer and company president, John has contributed more than 30 years in leadership positions to a score of organizations in fields as diverse as higher education, banking, philanthropy, the visual arts, theater, and historic preservation.

Equipped with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, Mr. Morning began as a graphic designer in Manhattan in the 1960’s. As founder and president of John Morning Design, he specialized in publications and materials for leading arts, cultural and philanthropic institutions. These included the Henry Luce Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum for African Art, and the Schomburg Center of the New York Public Library.

As early as the 1970’s Morning was elected to serve on corporate, academic, and foundation boards of directors. In the corporate world, he served on the board of the Dime Savings Bank of New York that later merged with Washington Mutual. In higher education, he was elected Director and Chairman of AGB, Director of CIC, Trustee of CUNY (appointed by then Governor Pataki), Trustee at Wilberforce University, as well as his alma mater, Pratt Institute. Serving the arts, Morning was elected to the governing boards of The Museum for African Art, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center Theater and the Lincoln Center Institute. He is Founding Chairman of the International Print Center, the first not-for-profit gallery devoted to the medium of fine art prints. He has also served on some of the most stellar of foundation boards including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. He was presented with the Lillian D. Wald Humanitarian Award, The White House Presidential Recognition Award, and the Pratt Institute Alumni Medal.

Perhaps most provocative is Mr. Morning’s article titled “A View of Black Board Participation in New York City” appearing in The State of Black New York published in 2007. In this article, he reveals the limited number of African-Americans serving on many of New York City’s corporate, education, and fine arts governing boards. The article ends with these highly prophetic words of Gunnar Myrdal:

“And so we come to the conclusion that much of what is and will be America is being incubated in our boardrooms.”

We, at the R. H. Perry Foundation could not agree more.

Wilberforce University Board Selects Richard Scaldini as Trustee

The R. H. Perry Foundation is pleased to announce that Dr. Richard J. Scaldini was recently elected to Wilberforce University's Board of Trustees. In these times of economic uncertainty, Dick Scaldini offers an unusual combination of skills as a successful educational leader, investment banker, management consultant, and teacher-scholar.

Currently Dick is president of Spearpoint Strategy Advisors, a management consulting firm in Warren, Connecticut. He also serves as the Educational Capital Practice leader for Collegiate Enterprise Solutions, a higher education consulting firm. Dick is the former president of Ohio's Myers University and Hiram College and of The Center for Leadership in Education in Ohio. He was also president of The Washington Campus located in the District of Columbia. In addition to his academic career, he has almost three decades of experience in corporate finance at Chemical Bank (now a part of J. P. Morgan & Co.) and Union Bank of Switzerland, giving him facility with strategic and financial planning as well as organizational development. His career in academic leadership and consulting has also afforded him considerable ease with relationship development that is critical to successful fundraising.

Dr. Scaldini expressed interest in serving as an academic trustee following the Foundation's presentation at the annual seminar of the Registry for College and University Presidents last November. Proceeding on a "hunch," Rob Perry contacted Wilberforce's Board Chair, Col. William R. Lee requesting a meeting to discuss how the Foundation might be of service to the university. During this informal meeting, Rob recommended Dr. Scaldini as a potential match in expertise to round out board composition and an interview process was set up with several trustees in New York City. Dr. Scaldini's name was subsequently submitted to the Committee on Trusteeship with Lee's strong recommendation. "I was very impressed with Dr. Scaldini and his knowledge of Wilberforce as well as the problems facing HBCU's," he reported back to the Foundation. He stated, "I truly look forward to having Dick serve as a member of the Board. He brings a perspective, understanding and depth of knowledge that we sorely need at this time."

Wilberforce University is the nation's oldest HBCU dating back to pre-Civil War times. Founded in 1856, the school's original site was a destination on the Underground Railroad and was subsequently named to honor the great 18th century abolitionist, William Wilberforce. Today, the university is a four-year, fully accredited liberal arts institution offering some 20 concentrations to students in business, communications, computing and engineering sciences, humanities, as well as the natural and social sciences. The university also offers dual degree programs in cooperation with the University of Cincinnati, the University of Dayton, and St. John's University School of Law.

Matthew J. Quinn: Advancing the Education of High-Achieving Students with Financial Need

Following a career of more than 30 years in higher education, Dr. Matthew Quinn became the founding Executive Director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in 2000. In January 2009, he graciously agreed to join the R. H. Perry Foundation Board of Advisors, providing a grant maker's perspective to our work.

Under Dr. Quinn's direction, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has funded scholarships and grants to provide financial assistance to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. The Young Scholars Program seeks qualified high-achieving, low-income 7th grade students and cultivates their talents and abilities throughout high school. Young Scholars are eligible to apply for the Foundation's College and Graduate Scholarships.

The Foundation's Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program selects up to 50 community-college transfer students each year and supports them as they complete bachelor's degrees at the nation's top four-year colleges and universities. They may also qualify for a Graduate Scholarship. The highly selective Graduate Scholarship Program enables awardees to pursue graduate or professional education for up to six years of study. A fairly recent program has been to assist exceptionally talented young artists and musicians to receive professional training that would otherwise be unattainable for them. In just eight short years, the foundation has provided over $130 million in scholarship and grant support.

Prior to joining the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Dr. Quinn served as President of Carroll College in Helena, Montana for 11 years. He also held administrative posts at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Iona College in New Rochelle, and the New Jersey Department of Higher Education.

Dr. Quinn brings years of experience on governing board and advisory committees for such groups as the American Association of University Administrators, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the American Council on Education, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Council on Foundations, and Washington Grantmakers. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, has served as Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank, Helena Branch, and currently is a member of the Board of Directors for the Council of Independent Colleges.

Frank H. Wu: An Academic Career Dedicated to Finding Justice for All People

When asked to join the R. H. Perry Foundation Board of Advisors, Frank Wu's almost immediate response was "I am delighted to accept your invitation to serve on your Advisory Board. I am honored to be asked. I look forward to helping you with this important work." The delay was due not to a lack of enthusiasm but rather the need to check out possible conflicts with his current responsibilities as Vice Chair of the governing board for Gallaudet University.

Gallaudet, located in the District of Columbia, is the only university in the world serving primarily those who are deaf or hard of hearing. To better serve on the Board of Trustees, Frank took instruction in American Sign Language as a means of communicating with students, faculty and administration. His perspective on board service and function is invaluable as an Advisor to the Foundation.

Until recently, Wu served as Dean of the Wayne State University School of Law in his hometown of Detroit. Returning to the Washington area, he is a visiting professor at the University of Maryland and George Washington University. This summer he will be traveling to China to serve as the C.V. Starr Visiting Professor at the new Peking University School of Transnational Law. In the fall of 2009 he will rejoin the faculty of Howard University where he was formerly a full professor.

Since the inception of his law career, Frank has been a supporter and defender of achieving racial justice through affirmative action that encourages diversity at every level of our society. It was the 1982 beating death of Chinese American Vincent Chin that galvanized his commitment to follow a career in law. The two unemployed autoworkers who beat Chin to death with a baseball bat were eventually given probation and fined a small amount for their crime. "The absurdity of the sentence and the outcry that it caused really were defining moments in my life and those of many other Asian Americans" said Wu. Since his return to Washington, he is engaged in writing a book about the Vincent Chin case. Wu is also the author of the widely acclaimed Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White and he is a co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment.

All of us at the Foundation are excited to have Frank Wu join ranks with our other advisors as we seek new ways to expand diversity in the board rooms of U.S. colleges and universities. In Frank's words, "We all have a stake in promoting greater understanding in race relations. Our success as a society depends upon it."

RHPF Presents Trustee Search Process to ACE Executive Search Roundtable

In early February, Rob Perry and Lisa MacBain provided a brief presentation to the members of the Executive Search Roundtable at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education (ACE). The Roundtable group consists of 42 firms that either specialize in or devote divisions to senior level administrative search in higher education.

Throughout the day's meetings, the Round Table had been grappling with issues related to the placement of more minority candidates into the college presidency. Despite steady increases among minority groups and women as faculty members, administrators and presidents, racial and gender distribution on college campuses is still heavily skewed favoring white males. Recognizing that responsibility for the succession of college presidents falls on the shoulders of governing boards, it was suggested that encouraging diversity among trustees is arguably the best place to start to achieve greater parity in all areas of our nation's institutions of higher education.

As one solution to recruiting greater racial and gender diversity, The R. H. Perry Foundation presented its approach to recruiting trustees. Our search process uses disciplined sourcing methods that obviate the most common pitfalls of conventional searches. Virtually all searches conducted by boards rely on existing networks of friends and acquaintances with a tendency to favor candidates' net worth rather than professional expertise.

Those in attendance listened raptly to the Foundation's sourcing strategy and findings, responding with an enthusiastic Q&A session. The consensus was that this method could really make a significant change in the academy - but can the Foundation secure sufficient funding to launch its pro bono service nationwide. That certainly remains the question to be answered.

Delaware Valley College helps RHPF test new trustee search process

In a cooperative experiment between Delaware Valley College (DelVal) and the R. H. Perry Foundation (RHPF), a first test of the new trustee search process was conducted. Dubbed the alpha test, the search was limited to a review of the College’s alumni data base (“internal search” see Search Process).

DelVal College President Dr. Joseph Brosnan enthusiastically credited the Foundation for its work to find trustee candidates. “This was a highly successful collaboration and a pleasure to help the Foundation test its new trustee search process. The R. H. Perry Foundation gave us a slate of candidates generated from its unique approach to finding the best trustee to match a college’s specific needs. We will continue to draw from that list as we consider new candidates for board service.”

To conduct this test, Brosnan provided the Foundation with a profile of needed governing board expertise, skills and a request that candidates come from a corridor of states to afford easy access to the College in Doylestown, PA, where all board meetings take place. Under conditions of confidentiality, the Foundation was provided with the College’s alumni data base, coordinated through DelVal’s Development Office.

Selecting from a universe of more than 19,000 records, the Development Office sent RHPF a list of approximately 8,200 records containing reliable address and employment information. The Foundation was able to reduce and research records received to produce a list of 10 prospects meeting all requirements set forth by the president. A summary report was prepared containing short biographical sketches of each prospect and ranking them as top candidates for immediate consideration or as excellent prospects to keep tabs on for the future.

Southeastern University asks RHPF to Find Trustee Candidates with Academic Expertise

In early October, Southeastern University (SEU) of Washington, DC, sent out an appeal to the R. H. Perry Foundation for help to bolster its board in response to a severe warning from its accreditation agency.

The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) issued a “show cause” order (the last step before termination of accreditation) to SEU when it determined the university was noncompliant with 10 of the agency’s 14 accrediting standards. These focused on issues of long-term planning, leadership, faculty, and educational offerings. Several of these shortcomings were related to board oversight requiring specific areas of academic knowledge and expertise.

To assist SEU, the Foundation team rapidly launched a search to find prospective trustees with academic leadership experience in accreditation reviews, outcomes assessments, distance learning, and a background overseeing academic affairs. In a matter of just days RHPF had 14 positive responses, all with significant higher education administrative experience.

In less than one month, SEU’s Board Nominating Committee invited two RHPF recommended prospects to interview, made a recommendation for full board review and elected Dr. Michael Steinman to join the Board and head up the Academic Affairs Committee.

Dr. Steinman received his PhD from the University of Chicago and has served as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at UMass, Dartmouth, Associate Provost at UMass and, most recently, Provost & Senior VP for Academic Affairs at John Jay College of the City University of New York. Mike’s entire career has been in institutions with mostly first generation college students and that serve surrounding minority communities. He has experience with accreditation reviews, particularly addressing deficiencies related to outcomes assessments as well as assessment of planning and budgeting.

“An excellent job!” exclaimed Doris McGhee, Chair of SEU’s Nominating Committee. “We are so pleased with the people the R. H. Perry Foundation brought to us and we are excited that Mike Steinman will be joining our board. We immediately felt that he was someone we could work with and learn from.” Mike jumped right in by assisting with preparations for the MSCHE accrediting team site visit scheduled to take place only two weeks after his election to the Board.

Registry for College and University Presidents Hear Foundation Update at Annual Seminar

Rob Perry, founder and CEO of the R. H. Perry Foundation was invited to address the membership of the Registry for College and University Presidents at its 16th Annual Seminar in early November. Rob’s message, “A New Opportunity for Service to Colleges and Universities,” described the Foundation’s unique search process and offered an opportunity for service as board members. The audience of former presidents and senior administrators could indicate a preference for interim service to at-risk schools or as full term board members of institutions aspiring to their next level of excellence.

Speaking to a near-capacity audience, Mr. Perry presented an overview of the Foundation’s first year of operations which included defining and testing each aspect of its trustee search process, researching the incidence of college and university closings, as well as its quest for funding and client schools. He used examples from recent searches on behalf of Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA and the District of Columbia’s Southeastern University to demonstrate the spectrum of needs for trustee service presented to the Foundation over the preceding year.

Following this presentation, Perry invited those in attendance to indicate interest in volunteering as trustees for independent colleges below the Tier I level. Approximately one third of the audience expressed the desire to be considered for trustee service. The majority of these respondents requested serving on governing boards of colleges and universities at risk.

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