Earlier this year, the SCICU Board of Trustees approved a Strategic Vision and Succession Plan that was the product of two years of study involving Trustees and other stakeholders. The Plan identifies the organization’s program priorities, and in light of the impending retirement of three senior staff, creates an organizational structure that will attract and retain employees who will advance the Board’s agenda.
In terms of staffing, the plan calls for continuing with 3.5 positions and re-centering benefits and salary ranges to bring them in line with SCICU’s member colleges and the SC non-profit industry. The plan also calls for an increase in communications and marketing efforts aimed at promoting the intrinsic values of independent colleges and a liberal arts education.
The staffing plan approved by the Board includes continuing the full-time positions of president and executive vice president with a focus on advocacy, fundraising, and collaboration. Responding to a changing higher education environment, the full-time finance and administration position was restructured as a part-time position and the part-time communications position was elevated to a full-time position.
During the past year, two major events, Career Connections and the Campus Tour, were cancelled, and a third was determined to be no longer relevant. Planning these events was a primary responsibility of the finance and administration position. In addition, an increased emphasis on communications, marketing, database management, website maintenance, and content curation added new responsibilities to the communications position.
As a result of the realignment of duties, Brenda Torrence, who retired from her full-time position after 30 years of service, begins a new career chapter in the part-time position of Director of Finance and Administration, and Shay West moves up to the new full-time position of Director of Communications. Both moves were effective on September 1.
Brenda and Shay are valued and respected members of the SCICU team and are eminently qualified for their respective positions. For those who are not familiar with their professional backgrounds, please visit the Meet Our Staff section of the SCICU website.
The completion of Phase I of the Succession Plan provides organizational continuity, preserves institutional memory, and creates increased capacity to address the critical program priorities of advocacy, fundraising, collaboration, and communications and marketing.
Planning for Phase II, hiring a president and CEO, will continue through the current fiscal year (September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018). Transition details will be announced at a later date.