The Ave Herald

New Leadership for Ave Maria University

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Published on Thursday, 10 February 2011 14:46

Ave Maria University is making a major change in its leadership, announcing Thursday morning that Jim Towey, a former president of a Pennsylvania Catholic college who also served as an adviser to both President George W. Bush and Mother Teresa, will take over as the university's president and CEO July 1. Nick Healy, who has served as the school's president since its founding, will become President Emeritus and AMU founder Tom Monaghan, who currently serves as Chancellor and CEO, will relinquish his responsibilities as CEO and leave day-to-day operations in Mr. Towey's hands, the university announced.

Michael Timmis, chair of the AMU Board of Trustees, said the trustees unanimously voted to offer the position to Mr. Towey at the board's meeting Tuesday and "it is the belief of the Trustees that Jim Towey is the most desirable Catholic university president in America today." Right, Mr. Towey flanked by (l-r) Mr. Healy, Mr. Timmis and Mr. Monaghan.

Mr. Monaghan, who will be 74 next month, said he has been working with the board for "the last couple of years" to develop a succession plan. The new structure, he said, "will enable me to spend more time working with university supporters both locally and nationally."

"This is a dream retirement," Mr. Monaghan said at the announcement, adding that he would stay inolved in architecture and write a sequel to his biography Pizza Tiger. "I'm thinking of calling it Rags to Riches to Rags," he quipped.

"It is a new day at Ave Maria and I am excited about its future," Mr. Towey said.

"Tom Monaghan has devoted all of his wealth and energy to get us to this point and now it is time for the rest of us to ask what we can do to help Ave Maria transition to self-sufficiency and new excellence."

Seeks Closer Collaboration with Bishop Dewane
Mr. Towey said he was comforted by the continuing guidance that he would receive from both Mr. Monaghan and Mr. Healy, and also said he looked forward to collaboration with Bishop Frank Dewane of the Diocese of Venice. AMU seeks the official designation of a "Catholic university" and the bishop has the sole authority to make such a declaration.

Bishop Dewane said in a statement that he "joins others in warmly welcoming Mr. Towey in his new role as President and CEO of Ave Maria University."
 
"I look forward to working with Mr. Towey, who brings extensive experience and knowledge to his new position and offers a new vision as Ave Maria University moves into the future." Bishop Dewane said. Bishop Dewane attended the board of trustees meeting Tuesday, but as an ex-officio member of the board, he does not vote.

Following the announcement, Mr. Towey introduced himself to many of the approximately 200 students, faculty and townspeople who came to hear the announcement outside the AMU student union.

Fr. Matthew Lamb (left, with Mr. Towey), chair of AMU's graduate Theology department, said he has known Mr. Towey for many years and has been impressed by "his dedication to Catholic teaching and his realization of the importance of following the guides of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in combining science, scholarship, arts and culture with Catholic wisdom."

Mr. Monaghan and Mr. Timmis, in an interview following the announcement, said that the community of Ave Maria impressed Mr. Towey and his wife, Mary, and was a significant factor in his decision to take the position.

"Tom called him in August," Mr. Timmis said, "and he felt he could not put his family through another major move."

"But then he visited," Mr. Monaghan said, "and he fell in love with the place. Then his wife came and she also fell in love with it."

Mr. Towey said he definitely planned to live in the town of Ave Maria but had not decided yet exactly where that would be. Right, Mr. Towey tries on an AMU basecall cap presented to him by coach Shawn Summe.

Mr. Towey, a lawyer, has experience in academia, government, law and Catholic missionary work, having served for 12 years as the U.S. legal counsel for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

At AMU, the university said, Mr. Towey will have full responsibility for the university's operations, reporting to the board of trustees. Founder Tom Monaghan will remain as Chancellor and focus on long-term planning and fund-raising.

Mr. Towey was president of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA,, from 2006-2010, following four years working in the White House as Director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush.

Mr. Towey is credited with improving the academic standing of St. Vincent, a Benedictine school with about 1,800 students, as well as increasing its enrollment and raising more than $35 million. Benedictine Archabbot Douglas Nowicki said when Mr. Towey left as president that he had done an "outstanding job . . . moving the college from being a well-respected regional college to a nationally recognized college of excellence."

Under his leadership, the college reached record levels of enrollment and had three consecutive years of waiting lists for admission.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review after announcing his resignation from St. Vincent, Mr. Towey said, "I came as a stranger to academia, and my view was there were things I wanted to accomplish here. I didn't come to stay; I came to make a difference."

His time at St. Vincent was not without controversy. He pushed to make the school's "Catholic identity more pronounced" and students, alumni and some faculty were upset in 2007 when President Bush delivered the commencement address, saying the president's policies did not fit the college's Benedictine mission, the Tribune-Review reported.

"When you come as a change agent, your role is not to be popular," he told the Tribune-Review.

Mr. Towey has roots in Florida. He grew up in Jacksonville, earned degrees in accounting and law at Florida State and worked for the Democratic governor of Florida, Lawton Chiles. He also worked as an aide to former Republican Senator Mark Hatfield.

At St. Vincent, he led mission trips for St. Vincent students each year to Calcutta, where they worked in homes for the dying founded by Mother Teresa. Right, part of the group that turned out to hear the announcement.

Mr. Healy has spent more than 20 years working in Catholic higher education, deciding in 1987 to leave his career as a maritime lawyer and insurance executive to devote himself in service to the Catholic Church. He was vice-president of university relations at Franciscan University of Steubenville before assuming the presidency of Ave Maria College in Michigan in 1999.

He will stay involved with AMU as President Emeritus and also will continue as President of the Ave Maria Foundation for the Arts, a private charitable organization established to promote and promulgate artwork and art programs at the university and in the town of Ave Maria.

"It has been a singular honor to be the first president of Ave Maria University," Mr. Healy said.

Click for related story from Naples Daily News: Tom Monaghan Steps Down as CEO at Ave Maria University