6/9/97

ATHENS, Ohio -- Richard P. "Dick" Siemer (SEE-MERR), chief of staff for administrative services at Duke University, has been appointed as Ohio University's next vice president for finance and treasurer, President Robert Glidden announced today (6/9/97).

Siemer will begin at Ohio University Aug. 4. As the university's chief fiscal manager and investment officer, he will oversee an annual expenditure budget of more than $350 million. Siemer also will serve as treasurer of the Ohio University Board of Trustees, and as treasurer of the Ohio University Foundation Board of Trustees, which has net assets of more than $118 million. He will be paid a salary of $135,000 a year.

For the past 10 years Siemer has served primarily as Duke University's chief of staff for its administrative services. In this capacity, he has supervised a wide range of administrative operations encompassing 700 people in seven operating units. He has also led an administrative work process redesign effort which involved installing an enterprise-wide management information system, which is expected to achieve $30 million in cost savings annually. Prior to Duke, Siemer served as financial systems manager and then as comptroller for the University of Maryland central administration in Adelphi, Md., and as a systems auditor for Huffy Corp. in Cincinnati. Siemer served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot.

"I am excited to be coming to Ohio University, and I am looking forward to personally meeting everyone there," Siemer said. "Ohio University is an excellent university with a wonderful future. I am looking forward to being part of its success story."

"Dick Siemer brings a wealth of financial and systems experience and expertise to Ohio University," Glidden said. "He comes with the highest of recommendations from all who have worked with him at Duke and at Maryland. We are very pleased that he and his wife have accepted our offer to return to their native Ohio."

Siemer was selected following a sixth-month national search that attracted more than 150 candidates. Siemer was one of four finalists brought to the Athens campus for interviews with the search committee, administrators, staff, and other representatives of campus constituent groups.

Siemer will replace William Kennard, who is retiring after a 31-year career at Ohio University.

Siemer received a master's degree in business administration from Troy State University in Troy, Ala., in 1976 and earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1968 from the University of Cincinnati. He is a certified public accountant and has served at Duke and at the University of Maryland as an adjunct professor in finance, accounting, and information technology.

Siemer will be moving to Athens with his wife, Janet, and children John, 6, and Hannah, 2.