Raymond seeks to diversify administration
Crone’s consulting contract extended
January 23, 2007
Angela Wiebe
While the old saying goes, ‘Behind every great man there’s a great woman,’ Trinity Western University President Jonathan Raymond prefers to flip that phrase around.
Referring to a quote famously uttered by the founder of the Salvation Army Church, William Booth, Raymond quipped, “My best men are women.”
“I just love that quote,” he added, while speaking with Mars’ Hill last week.
In fact, gender equality is something Raymond feels passionately about.
“We’re just beginning to position women [in executive roles],” Raymond noted. “Everywhere I’ve been, that’s been a priority.”
Hoping to have at least two women promoted to “significant leadership roles at the university” by next year, Raymond’s goal is to create more diversity within TWU’s administration.
“I think the university’s culture takes more than a step up when women are given more opportunities,” Raymond said. “The same principle operates for people who are other than caucasian. It helps to bring a diversity of perspectives.”
In its 44 years, TWU has only had one woman serve as a Vice President and sit in the President’s Cabinet. Doris Olafsen served for just over four years as the VP of Advancement (originally titled VP of Development), stepping down in May 2005.
For Raymond, who has already appointed three out of the four senior vice president positions in his cabinet, a woman would be a welcome addition.
Calling attention to the tenets of a book that has sat on his shelf for 32 years, The Velvet-Covered Brick, Raymond noted that women often help round out an administrative team.
“Quite often administration can be just the brick… and women help with that,” he said. “It’s the idea of being firm but soft-touched. We’re trying to help the [university] culture move in a direction that’s healthier and I think this stuff is healthy.”
While currently seeking a candidate to fill the fourth vice president position – the Chief Operating Officer (COO) – TWU’s administration team has already been benefiting from some female executive leadership in the form of consultant Marilyn Crone.
Crone, who has been consulting for the school since August, has been working mostly with enrolment management and helping to define the new COO role.
“She is a very savvy business woman,” Raymond said. “I feel the university is blessed to have her.”
Crone, originally from Waco, Texas, has worked as a senior vice president with the Bank of America, as a top enrolment consultant for America’s largest Baptist school, Baylor University, and as a consultant for the soon-to-come Quest University in Squamish, B.C., which will launch in fall 2007.
After working with Quest for a year, Crone was recruited to join TWU as a consultant to help turn around what she called the “negative trend” of decreasing undergraduate enrolment.
“I just have a passion about Christian higher education,” Crone said of joining the university this year.
While she was originally hired as a consultant on a six-month contract, the university has extended her contract for another six months, as she continues to work on restructuring the admissions and financial aid departments, as well as shaping the business-oriented COO role.
“The university has to operate on some business perspective,” Raymond said of the new vice president position. The COO will be responsible for areas including financial services, information technology, and campus services.
Raymond, who said Crone “brings leadership” to TWU’s administration, would like to see the consultant stick around past her one-year contract.
“Our hope – and we hope that her hope – is for her to be here beyond September,” Raymond noted, adding, “she’s a great role model for women.”
But Crone, who said working at TWU has been a “privilege,” isn’t so certain of what the future holds for her. With offers of full-time positions back home in the United States, Crone said she’s not sure where she’ll end up next year.
While Crone said she’s aware of the increased accountability that has come along with many of her prestigious positions, she doesn’t necessarily view herself as a role model to other women.
“I think it’s our role to conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord,” she said, adding, “It’s not about being a woman, it’s about being a follower of Christ.”
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