If the Duke University of the future looks more like The Jetsons than Dawson's Creek, with monorails zipping across campus and biometric thumb readers instead of DukeCards, Paul Davies will be the man who has engineered much of the change in student services--and ensured its profitability.
Davies, currently the financial director of Auxiliary Services, will take over leadership of the organization this summer from outgoing associate vice president Joe Pietrantoni.
In doing so, he will assume one of the most prominent roles in campus life. From atop his perch he will oversee the University's behemoth dining services, its network of stores, services for the Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., the post office, the infrastructure of the DukeCard system and the logistical elements of Event Management. Davies will work closely with other new campus figures like Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, Vice President for Information Technology Tracy Futhey and a new vice president for campus services to be hired later this spring.
With the reorganization plan complete, Davies--whose budget will be cut by three-fourths to about $75 million after the departure of elements like publishing, housekeeping and parking and transportation--said his first goal will be to stress that Auxiliary Services will not be overhauled again.
"There won't be any major changes," said Davies, emphasizing that dining, stores and the other elements he will control have a vital need to remain together. "To change anything from the administrative side is to say that the model Joe Pietrantoni has built over the last 30 years isn't strong and that's clearly not the case."
Arriving on campus in 1987 with a background in accounting, Davies quickly went from a member of the internal audit department to a financial Mr. Fix-It in the Department of Medicine, where he remained for 10 years before arriving at Auxiliary Services in 1999. That background gives Davies three key assets in his new position-experience in an academic setting, an understanding of how the Medical Center works and intricate knowledge of how services are financed.
"It helps you on the operations side if you know how the numbers flow, if you know how money flows through the system," he said. Davies also noted that, like in Auxiliary Services, the $100-million budgeted medicine department was expected not just to break even, but to allow funding of more academic programs.
Davies, whose title has not yet been determined, may have a steep learning curve in replacing the irreplaceable Pietrantoni, whose impending departure led Executive Vice President Tallman Trask to reorganize campus services this winter.
The transition is in part generational. Art drawn by his three daughters adorns Davies's desk-in contrast to the Gemini and Apollo mission memorabilia lining Pietrantoni's wall. But their roles will also differ fundamentally, in that Davies's job will be to maintain and enhance the empire that Pietrantoni had to build from scratch.
"In many ways, [they have] many of the same characteristics in terms of energy and commitment to continuous improvement," said Michael Mandl, vice president for financial services, to whom Davies will now directly report. "Those are the places I'd say [Davies is] very similar to Joe.... He'll play a significant role in advancing the good programs that Joe Piet has put in place."
Pietrantoni gave Davies his blessing and said one of the most important factors abetting his retirement was knowing Davies would be on tap to take over.
In an interview last week, Davies, who aims to emulate Pietrantoni's frank, friendly, open-door demeanor, said that Auxiliary Services has always had good relationships with Student Affairs and the Office of Information Technology. He spoke about family--both his own and the family of employees within his organization.
Although he said he would have a clearer idea of his plans for the organization in the coming months, he provided a glimpse of his own ambitions. Davies highlighted the possibilities that the creation of a student "village" on West Campus will hold for dining and stores and said he hopes every Duke student will regret not visiting the Marine Lab in four years at the University. He added that he might boost Auxiliary Services' marketing--noting in a congratulatory way that people simply do not notice Auxiliary Services when its employees do their jobs well.
He also made clear that his division will remain independent-minded, with its own direction and vision.
"Auxiliaries is my organization, and we'll run it that way."
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