Advancement VP Talbot leaves for Florida
The vice president for University Advancement at Utah State University recently announced his resignation, effective June 15, to head up the University of Florida’s 250,000-member alumni association.
Randy W. Talbot, who has directed the university’s fund-raising and development efforts the past two years at Utah State, said he is leaving Utah for the chance to return to his alma mater. The Florida native attended the University of Florida on a football scholarship where he received all SEC honors while earning a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 1975.
Utah State President Kermit L. Hall will directly oversee both the development and alumni operations during the interim period while a national search is conducted.
He has appointed Joyce Albrecht, associate vice president for university advancement, to manage the day-to-day operations of the central development office. He also appointed Jeannie Simmonds, director of annual giving, to assist the president in capital campaigns and alumni affairs coordination. Both will report directly to him.
“I am grateful to Randy for the discipline and organizational skills he has brought to our advancement efforts,” Hall said. “We will keep the process moving forward.”
Talbot said his stay at Utah State has been “personally fulfilling and professionally rewarding” and that he is leaving with “a fondness for the good people I have had the pleasure of working with.”
He praised Hall for his commitment to increase personnel numbers in the development area. “This is critical to the success and underpinnings of development and he’s doing that,” Talbot said.
Albrecht said she will continue her role as associate vice president while working closely with the development officers and the deans, to support their needs and meet their development goals. During this period, the development officers will report to her.
“Our development campaign will move forward and we will continue the progress we have made,” she said. “The groundwork has been done and we are in a better position to continue our programs and to see where we are going in the future.”
Simmonds said she will continue her regular duties as director of annual giving in the advancement office but will assume additional duties as a special assistant to the president, making appointments, working with consultants and meeting with donors. She will also work as Hall’s liaison with alumni and in the upcoming campaign.
“I am honored to be able to help move Utah State forward in this important campaign,” she said.
During his time at Utah State, Talbot was responsible for putting a structure in place for a development program that is goal- and measurement-oriented in preparation for a major comprehensive campaign in which the university will soon embark.
“It has been a process of getting everybody to be accountable, to meet performance standards that will yield more endowments and gifts for the university,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of building on what we’ve accomplished the past two years to give someone sound footing from which to work.”
This foundation includes contributions that are up $7 million from last year’s $17 million. The number of donors, now at 2,000, is up as well. Gifts to the university totaling 24,600 are also up from last year’s 22,376.
Talbot said indicators are that the university is heading in the right direction, including the recent hiring of a planned giving officer and development officers in the library and the College of Business.
Prior to coming to Utah State, Talbot, 51, was vice president of Constituent Programs at Florida State University, where he was responsible for managing development programs and capital campaign plans for eight colleges and five schools that were in the public phase of a $600 million campaign.
A search committee, to be chaired by Utah State Board of Trustee member Richard Shipley, is now being organized. It hopes to fill the position by October.
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