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Weiss Hires From Lafayette to Replace Longtime VP of Finance

Earlier this month President Daniel H. Weiss announced the hiring of Mitchell L. Wein to replace long-time Vice President of Administration and Finance Richard Wynn, who is retiring this June.

Wein, who currently holds the same position at Lafayette, was hired by then-President Weiss in 2007 for his first higher education job after more than 20 years in the private sector, where his work “centered on providing investment banking services and other financial products to colleges and universities,” according to his biography.

“Mitch demonstrated that he has the skills, experience and temperament to help us achieve the ambitious goals we are setting for ourselves here at Haverford.  I couldn’t be happier to have him on our team,” Weiss wrote in an all-campus email announcement.

Wein spent close to 15 years at PNC Bank and five years at UBS/PaineWebber before arriving at Lafayette. His “investment banking experience totaled $10 billion,” according to the email.

The College received over 100 applications for the position, which was advertised in a January 27 notice on the Haverford website. Weiss said that Wein’s investment banking experience is relevant because of his experience in the nonprofit and higher education sector, and that in his 6 years of working with Wein at Lafayette he showed an ability to not only balance large projects and budget priorities, but a “great respect for shared governance that is… decidedly something investment bankers aren’t known for.”

Weiss was not concerned about Wein’s background at PNC Bank, which has been the target of protests by Quaker groups for its financing of companies that engage in mountaintop removal coal mining despite calling itself “a leader in eco-friendly development” and touting its historical connections to Quakerism. In October, Director of Quaker Affairs Walter Hjelt Sullivan, who is also an organizer for the Earth Quaker Action Team, was arrested during a protest at a PNC Bank in Pittsburgh.

He said Wein was at PNC “fifteen years ago before any of this was happening.”

“He understands the Quaker values of the college,” Weiss said. “I wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t understand the values of the College – it’s not easy to come here by accident.”

Wein’s salary and benefits for 2011-2012 totaled $349,604, making him Lafayette’s second-highest paid employee after Weiss himself, who earned $648,891 that year. Wynn’s compensation for the same period was $287,707, according to tax forms.

Weiss would not comment on whether Wein’s salary was matched or increased to lure him to Haverford, saying that Wein would be paid “a competitive salary reflective of his experience and with what we can do.”

Weiss said he was excited to introduce Wein to the Haverford College community, and while a date has not been set, the visit will likely happen within the next two weeks.

For Wein, moving to Haverford will be convenient in at least one way; a resident of Ambler, a borough in Montgomery County, his morning commute to Lafayette took over an hour.

“It was never a problem – he was never late for a single meeting,” Weiss said.

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