Home » Dr. Richard Cosentino selected as President of Lander University
Dr. Richard Cosentino selected as President of Lander University
Dr. Richard Cosentino selected as President of Lander University
Dr. Richard Cosentino, vice chancellor for Finance and
Administration at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Pembroke, has been named
president of Lander University. Jack Lawrence, chair of Lander’s Board of Trustees, said
Cosentino was the unanimous choice of the trustees, when they met this afternoon.
He will become Lander’s 13th president, succeeding Dr. Daniel Ball, who will
retire on June 30 after serving 15 years as president. Only three other presidents,
including the school’s founder, the Rev. Samuel Lander, have served longer.
Cosentino was one of three finalists nominated by the Presidential Search
Committee following a nationwide search that began early last spring. The executive
search firm of Coleman Lew + Associates, of Charlotte, N.C., assisted in the selection of
potential candidates.
Lawrence said, “Dr. Cosentino possesses an impressive academic background,
considerable experience in higher education and diverse skills that align with the current
and future needs of Lander.” He added, “He also shares our commitment to Lander’s
mission of providing a challenging and rewarding education to qualified students.”
Cosentino described himself as very excited about becoming Lander’s next
president. He said he was impressed with members of the board and the faculty and
students that he met with during his visit to campus. He said, “Lander is strong and
bright. I’m joining a winning team.” He said he has a lot of thoughts on positioning the
university to be successful in what he characterized as a very challenging environment
for higher education.
He found Greenwood to be a very welcoming community for his family. “The
people were very friendly.” He and his wife, Jessica, have two children: Emily, 18, a
freshman at North Carolina State University, and John, 14, who is in high school.
Cosentino has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in
finance and a master’s in strategic financial planning from the University of Baltimore, in
Baltimore, Md. He received a doctorate in engineering from The George Washington
University in Washington, D.C.
He has over 20 years of experience in higher education as a senior administrative
and financial executive and a background in fundraising, enrollment management and
government relations.
In his position at UNC at Pembroke, Lander’s new president-elect is the chief
financial officer and senior administrator of the university He also serves as the adviser to
the chancellor and the school’s Board of Trustees on all matters associated with fiscal and
administrative issues.
Prior to UNC, Cosentino served as an assistant and an associate vice president for
Finance and Administration at The George Washington University, and as vice dean for
Finance and Administrative Affairs in the university’s School of Engineering and
Applied Science. He has also worked as senior budget manager at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, and as director of Budget and Finance and senior
administrator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, both schools in
Baltimore.
He taught graduate-level courses at George Washington, including organizational
behavior, the management of technical organizations, human resources management and
fundamentals of systems engineering.
Cosentino’s term as Lander’s president will begin on July 1.