Add one more top administrator to the list of those stepping down in the near future - the University's chief financial officer will also be leaving Duke.
Michael Mandl, vice president for financial services, will leave in May to take the position of executive vice president for finance and administration at Emory University in July.
"People have been after him for a long time," said Executive Vice President Tallman Trask. "I thought naively I could keep him forever. It surprised me because I thought he was going to stay. I'm not terribly pleased, but these things happen.... [Emory's] very smart to have found him."
Mandl said that in addition to the chance to take on broader duties, similarities between Duke and Emory - a private, top-20 research university in Atlanta - added to his decision. The two universities are comparable in size and physical dimensions, and both integrate a medical center into the campus.
"It's probably the only position I can think of that could have lured me away at this point in my career," Mandl said. "Given the point Emory's at in its history, its resources and the potential it has to achieve, I can be part of something very important in higher education in the U.S., and I think it's a unique opportunity in that sense."
In many ways, Mandl has been Trask's top deputy for the past four years. In addition to overseeing annual budgeting and financing of new buildings, Mandl has led several strategic initiatives, including the development of a new planning and reporting process for capital construction and a revamping of Duke's internal financial reporting procedures.
Mandl's departure leaves a gaping hole in Trask's infrastructure and comes less than a month after Daniel Rodas, assistant vice president for administration and one of Trask's top lieutenants, announced last month that he would be leaving Duke to become provost of Southampton College in New York.
But Mandl's departure will have a deeper impact on the University, especially given the role Mandl was slated to take in a restructuring of campus and auxiliary services next year.
Earlier this year, Trask announced that the departures of Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Affairs Joe Pietrantoni and Director of Facilities Management Jerry Black gave him the opportunity to rethink how those services are executed.
In his new infrastructure, Trask will turn over a pared-down core of auxiliaries to current Auxiliary Services Director of Financial Services Paul Davies and create a new position, vice president for campus services, to oversee facilities, parking and other campus-wide services.
Mandl was set to take charge of oversight for auxiliaries as the intermediary between Trask and Davies. Now, Trask will be looking for Mandl's replacement as well.
Trask said the search for a campus services vice president is proceeding and that he hopes to have someone in place before May's Board of Trustees meeting.
He added that a new vice president for financial services will be hired next fall, and he would then make any necessary changes to his reorganization.
"It probably won't be exactly the same," Trask said. "We're going to make some minor readjustments. That's clearly the open question, whether [Auxiliary Services] belongs [under the vice president for financial services] or on the campus services side, and I don't know what to decide until I see who we've got in each position."
Mandl has served as Duke's chief financial services and budget officer since 1999 and was promoted to full vice president last year.
He served prior to 1999 as the University of Pennsylvania's vice dean for finance and administration and before that, served as director of academic budgets and services in the provost's office at Duke.
"We welcome Mike Mandl to succeed John Temple at Emory," said Emory President William Chace in a statement. "He brings to us an acute intelligence, a firm grasp of the complexities of private higher education in the United States and a determination and tenacity to understand and then to solve the many fiscal issues that we - along with our national counterparts - will be facing in the coming years."
Trask, who came to Duke as the executive vice president of the University of Washington, couldn't help gloating a little about his protégé.
"He's going to be a EVP at a serious place at [age] 40," Trask said. "I remind him I was EVP at a serious place when I was 37."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.