Hofler Milam, currently vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer for QualChoice of North Carolina, will assume the day-to-day control of the University's finances. Kemel Dawkins, currently associate vice president for facilities at Yale University, will lead the newly-created division of campus services.
"Hof and Kemel bring an extraordinary wealth of experience in working with others to provide outstanding service and sound management for large organizations," Trask said in a statement. "We carried out national searches for these positions and considered several hundred individuals. In both cases, our search committee was unanimous that we had found the right people to lead these important operations, which affect daily life at Duke in so many ways."
Milam succeeds Michael Mandl, who is leaving Duke to become executive vice president for finance and administration at Emory University.
"I am excited about becoming a member of the Duke community and looking forward to working with Tallman and everyone else," Milam said in a statement. "The financial services team and I will work together to build on the considerable accomplishments achieved under Mike Mandl, who has been generous with his time in helping to ensure a smooth transition."
Milam will be making a big leap from running the finances and operations of a health maintenance organization to the non-profit sector of a private university. He has experience in higher education, however, as he was assistant dean for planning and resource management at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine before joining QualChoice.
Dawkins has extensive experience at a variety of elite universities, but always on the facilities side. He was director of construction and project management at the University of Pennsylvania before becoming associate vice president for facilities at Stanford University and, later, Yale.
The new division of campus services, however, will encompass facilities and much more, including parking, dining and other campus-wide services. Learning about all the systems on the fly would be a challenge for anyone, but Dawkins said he is enthusiastic about working with the University's corps of administrators.
"Duke is one of the premier academic institutions in the country, and its academic and administrative leadership have accomplished a great deal in recent years," Dawkins said in a statement. "I'm excited about joining the team and helping to provide the best possible services to help keep the Duke campus running smoothly."
Milam will join the University in July; Dawkins will follow in August.
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