Razorback Foundation Executive Moving to UA Advancement Post
by February 13, 2013 11:49 am 81 views
Chris Wyrick, the executive director of Razorback Foundation Inc. at the University of Arkansas for less than six months, was named Wednesday morning as the school’s new vice chancellor for university advancement.
Chancellor David Gearhart said Wyrick will begin his new job once a transition plan is determined. The Razorback Foundation, which has more than 13,000 members, is the fundraising arm of the UA athletic department.
Gearhart, who has been searching for a new director of advancement since late last year, will continue to oversee the advancement division, according to a news release. The division includes the university’s fundraising, communications and alumni offices, as well as special events and community relations units.
Wyrick, 45, replaces Brad Choate, who was removed following an internal audit revealed advancement overspent by more than $3 million in 2011-12 and was on track for a more than $4 million deficit in 2012-13.
Choate remains employed by the UA through the end of his contract, which expires June 30.
Wyrick, a North Carolina native, has been at the UA since 2008 — previously as a senior administrator with the athletics department before moving to the Razorback Foundation — and Gearhart said he had established himself as a “superstar” in that time among university colleagues. Wyrick has more than 20 years fundraising experience, with positions at South Carolina, North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.
“I have seen what a first-rate advancement division looks like, how it is run and what kind of impact it can have on a university,” Wyrick said in the release. “I welcome the challenge of fulfilling Chancellor Gearhart’s vision of making this university a Top 50 public research university.”
More than 100 people attended Wednesday’s announcement, according to the release. Among them was Johnelle Hunt, a longtime UA supporter and one of three chairs of the Campaign Arkansas steering committee, the group of volunteers who are helping plan the university’s next capital campaign.