President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri issued the following message to the York community yesterday:
The activities of the York University Foundation will be assumed by York’s new Division of Advancement, effective April 30, 2011.
It is with regret that I am informing you that Paul Marcus has decided not to lead the new division.
Since Paul’s appointment in 2002 as the founding president and CEO of the York University Foundation, he has built an organization that was not only dedicated to raising funds for, and strengthening the philanthropic culture of, York University, but was also supportive of our long tradition of giving. In this capacity, he provided leadership to York’s most successful campaign in its history, York to the Power of 50, established in honour of our 50th anniversary celebrations. With the generosity of the community, the campaign raised $207 million from 30,000 donors.
Paul has been instrumental in enhancing the involvement and engagement of York’s alumni and donor communities, and in creating synergies between all of the functions of advancement – fundraising, alumni relations and advancement services. He has also worked tirelessly with his senior management team and myself on a new structure and strategic plan for the Division of Advancement.
The transition of the three units is expected to be finalized by April 30, 2011, at which point he has decided that this is a logical time to pursue new opportunities and for the organization to be served by a new leader. The University is working on an interim arrangement until a new leader for the division can be found.
Please join me in wishing Paul much success in all of his future endeavours.