As the office of parking and transportation nears its sixth month with an interim director, the search for a permanent leader continues.
Melissa Harden assumed the role of interim director April 1 when former director Sam Veraldi accepted a position as a visiting associate professor in the markets and managements studies program. Despite ongoing changes within the department, administration has yet to offer the job to any possible candidates.
Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for administration, said that the search is focused on finding someone who will provide a good fit for the growing stress and demands of Duke's parking and transportation system.
“This is, as you might imagine, a very challenging position," Cavanaugh said. "Finding the right person to commit to provide that leadership and to assume that role is absolutely critical.”
The search has been conducted nationwide, resulting in over a hundred individuals applying for the position. About 40 individuals have been contacted and eight of them have been interviewed by supervisors in the Duke Athletics and Police Department, as well as leaders in the Duke Hospital. They were asked questions about their experiences and ideas for the future of Parking and Transportation.
Because of the increasing demands on the parking infrastructure, the new director will take on more responsibilities than those of the past—experience in multifaceted aspects of business and technology is a must, Cavanaugh said. The director will also have to be familiar with the operations of a parking program at a similar scale as Duke's.
“We need someone who has solid leadership and communication skills and someone who can build a cohesive unit within the parking operations and who is passionate about customer service as well," Cavanaugh said.
In addition to the everyday challenges of running a parking program, Cavanaugh said Harden has also worked with the many ongoing construction projects on campus.
Additional projects supervised by Harden include a major renovation in parking garage number two and the summer reconstruction of the Chapel Drive traffic circle. Cavenaugh noted that Harden’s hard work has greatly assisted the process of finding a new director.
“Appointing Melissa [Harden] as the interim director has given us a lot of flexibility to take our time in going through the search process to ensure that we are getting the best fit,“ he said. "My hope is that we can have this wrapped up certainly by the end of the year.”
After repeated attempts, Harden could not be reached for comment. Veraldi declined to comment.
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