Albert J. Novak Jr. Named Interim Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at Pitt

October 8, 2002

PITTSBURGH––University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg today announced that Albert J. Novak Jr., senior associate vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement (IA) at Pitt, has been named interim vice chancellor for IA, effective immediately. Novak takes over the leadership of the Office of Institutional Advancement from Carol Carter, IA vice chancellor since 1997, whose resignation was announced today.

Novak joined Pitt's IA staff in June 1997, first as associate vice chancellor for corporate and foundation relations and then, in January 2001, as senior associate vice chancellor, working closely with the chancellor and vice chancellor to plan and manage the University's overall fund-raising efforts, serving as the provost's chief development officer, and working directly with deans, department chairs, faculty members, and directors of development in the University's nonhealth sciences schools.

Novak was responsible for corporate and foundation giving throughout much of the just-completed first phase of the "Discover a World of Possibilities" fund-raising campaign, which had attracted $517 million in gifts and pledges as of June 30, 2002, and it was that source of giving that accounted for more than half of the campaign total. Foundation giving, for instance, stood at $207 million, or 40 percent of the total, and corporate giving was $72 million, or 14 percent of the total.

Novak also effected a quick turnaround in corporate giving to the University upon his arrival here five years ago. For some 15 years prior to the campaign, the IA office had raised between $4 million and $6 million a year from corporations. During the first year of the campaign, total corporate giving rose to $9 million; it was up to $20 million by FY 2002.

In his new role, Novak will lead a professional fund-raising staff of more than 150 on four campuses as well as Pitt's alumni relations program.

"Within a remarkably short time, Al Novak energized the University's foundation and corporate giving program, which accounted for a very significant share of our record-breaking first phase campaign total," says Chancellor Nordenberg. "As senior associate vice chancellor, he also played an active and very constructive role in helping to manage our overall development program. Given his extensive professional experience, his management abilities, and the respect he enjoys within all of the University's many constituencies, I am pleased that he is able to step in and assume this new role.

"In the months ahead, we will conduct a national search before making a more permanent appointment to the vice chancellor's position. We also will use this transition period to look carefully at our existing structures and practices to see if there are ways that we can improve them. Our fund-raising successes to date have been a source of special pride and are beginning to make a real difference in our academic programs. However, given our even more ambitious goals and the fact that we are moving through challenging economic times, we need to be reaching out to even larger numbers of potential donors to share the story of Pitt's progress and to seek their support," Chancellor Nordenberg adds.

"I am honored to have been selected to lead this outstanding team of professionals, extremely proud of what we already have achieved as a division, and optimistic about reaching our $1 billion goal," says Novak. "I already have developed a close working relationship with the chancellor, the provost, and others and believe that we are well positioned to achieve even greater things. Certainly, my colleagues and I have every intention to build effectively on our existing momentum."

Novak came to the University of Pittsburgh from Carnegie Mellon University, where he served as director of development for the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management from 1991 to 1994, the university's director of foundation relations from 1992 to 1994, and the university's director of corporate and foundation relations from 1994 to 1997.

Novak earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in communications in 1981 at Saint Vincent College, where he worked as a development officer from 1987 to 1991, and the Master of Public Management degree at Carnegie Mellon in 1997.

Novak and his wife, Sally Anne, have two sons attending Pitt: Benjamin, a double-degree senior majoring in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and bioengineering in the School of Engineering, and Adam, a freshman in CAS.

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10/8/02