Career Center

The next senior vice president and general counsel (GC) of Syracuse University will provide executive and administrative direction across the university's legal affairs as a member of the chancellor's senior leadership team. Reporting to Chancellor and President Kent Syverud, this executive will serve as the university's chief legal officer, providing legal support, advice, and assistance to the board of trustees, chancellor, senior leaders, faculty, and staff on all legal matters affecting the institution. As a highly visible member of the senior leadership team, this executive will be responsible for a wide range of legal, regulatory, and athletics compliance, matters and will manage the legal resources in a manner that supports the overall priorities of Syracuse. The GC will be expected to provide a proactive and collaborative approach to the legal issues associated with a dynamic organization committed to redefining the future of higher education.

The individual selected for this position will be a highly strategic, proactive attorney who is well-versed in the business dynamics and regulatory environment of higher education. The GC will be innovative and entrepreneurial, capable of creating solutions that facilitate the university's initiatives to assure the success and increasing impact of the organization. Working with the board of trustees, chancellor and president, senior leadership and the legal, compliance, insurance and risk management teams, the GC will constantly be thinking of better ways to operate, structure and support Syracuse University's objectives and opportunities.

The GC is expected to effectively lead a high performing legal team, ensuring their accountability while also effectively mentoring this group and building a positive, open and responsive team environment. The GC will be an actively engaged leader with mature interpersonal skills who adds broad legal experience in higher education to the team and remains active in the practice of law. It is important that the GC be a credible and visible university-wide leader who exhibits high integrity and the skills of listening effectively and partnering collaboratively. This is an outstanding opportunity to develop and lead a successful legal team committed to the success of a robust and diverse learning community at an exceptional institution.

Candidates must bring a distinguished record of achievement and senior leadership experience. The successful candidate must have excellent academic credentials and a law degree from an ABA accredited school of law; membership in the State Bar of New York or eligibility for admission based on reciprocity is required (if reciprocity is not available, out of state candidates will be expected to become full New York State Bar members within one year of employment) and with at least ten years of broad legal experience in higher education and/or other non-profit entities gained in-house or through working closely with higher education or not for profit clients.

Syracuse University has retained WittKieffer, a national and global executive search firm, to assist in this search. All applications, inquiries, and nominations, which will remain confidential, are invited. Applications should include, as a separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in this profile. Application materials should be submitted using WittKieffer's candidate portal: https://candidateportal.wittkieffer.com/login.
Nominations and inquiries can be directed to Werner Boel, Robin Mamlet, and Luis Bertot at SyracuseGC@wittkieffer.com.