Alejandro Hernandez, a dean at the University of Virginia, will be the next president of Champlain College, the school announced on Thursday.
Hernandez, currently the dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and the vice provost of online learning at UVA, will take over as president of the Burlington college on June 6.
“Champlain’s mission resonates strongly with me both personally and professionally, and I’m excited to work with the community to build on its success and momentum,” Hernandez said in a press release.
Hernandez will be the fifth president to run the roughly 4,500-student liberal arts college since 2019.
Donald Laackman, who had run the college since 2014, resigned abruptly in 2019 after a five-year term. Trustees tapped Laurie Quinn, the college’s provost and senior vice president of academics, to take his place on a temporary basis.
In April 2020, the college announced that Benjamin Ola. Akande, an administrator and economist at Washington University in St. Louis, would be its new president.
But in April, after less than a year on the job, Akande quit to join a St. Louis investment banking firm. Dave Finney, a former president, has run the college on an interim basis since then.
In the press release, Board of Trustees Chair Judy O’Connell hailed Hernandez’s experience in career education. The 143-year-old college recently issued a new strategic plan, which cites an intention to “prioritize career success” among its goals.
“We believe Alex is the right leader to bring to life the goals set forth in the plan, which include launching new innovative, career-focused programs, reaching diverse student populations, and building partnerships that help Vermont thrive,” O’Connell said.
Hernandez worked at J.P. Morgan and Steamboat Ventures, Disney’s venture capital branch, before leaving the financial industry to become an educator, according to the press release.
His resume includes a stint at the nonprofit Charter School Growth Fund, as well as work as a school administrator and math teacher in California and Oregon.
A spokesperson for the college said that Hernandez would receive a salary that was “competitive and in step with industry standards.”
College tax filings from 2019, the most recent salary information for a permanent president, show that Laackman received $377,576 in compensation during his last year in the job.
