96-07-15 Napier Named Secretary of Trustees

NAPIER TO LEAVE BOARD OF REGENTS FOR OHIO STATE MAJOR ROLE

     COLUMBUS -- William J. Napier, vice chancellor for 
external affairs of the Ohio Board of Regents, will become 
secretary of the Board of Trustees and executive assistant 
to the president of The Ohio State University.  Leslie H. 
Wexner, chairman of the Ohio State trustees, and E. Gordon 
Gee, Ohio State president, jointly announced the appointment 
today (7/15).

     Napier was the No. 1 choice in a national search that 
generated more than 200 qualified applicants.   "I could not 
be more pleased," Wexner said, "for the university and for 
the trustees than to have Bill Napier return to his 
university in this significant role."  

     Napier was Ohio State's director of governmental 
relations and executive assistant to two other presidents, 
Harold Enarson and Edward Jennings, between 1976 and 1982.  
In 1982 he received his Ph.D. in political science from Ohio 
State and became assistant director in the Ohio Department 
of Natural Resources a year later.  He joined the Regents in 
1984.

     The position Napier fills is part of Gee's management 
restructuring, a senior official combining the jobs of the 
president's executive assistant and the trustees' secretary.  
The salary is $140,000. 

     "Bill Napier is known as a wise and accomplished 
counselor and a very highly experienced facilitator," Gee 
said.  "He is extremely well respected in state and higher 
education circles, and he gets things done.  Bill was the 
ideal candidate for this post, and I look forward to his 
advice and support."

     Napier said: "Governors Voinovich and Celeste have 
blessed the university with a board of trustees that is 
extraordinary in terms of ability and dedication.  And, in 
Gordon Gee, Ohio State has one of the very best presidents 
in American higher education.  Who wouldn't want to join a 
team like that?"

     He added, "I'd like to give a special word of thanks to 
the political science department at Ohio State where I got 
my Ph.D.  Without the excellent education I received there,  
I would not have been able to compete for a job like this."

     The decision to leave the Board of Regents after 12 
years was very difficult, Napier said, and he thanked 
Chancellor Elaine Hairston, Chairman Ralph Frasier, and the 
other Regents for the opportunities they provided him during 
his tenure there.

     Napier has been vice chancellor since 1984 and served 
as acting chancellor from July to November 1995 when 
Hairston was on a research leave.  His responsibilities at 
the Regents have involved developing and implementing the 
board's external agenda, including working closely with the 
governor's office, the Ohio General Assembly, the media, 
Ohio college and university presidents and trustees, and the 
general higher education constituency.

     He is a Tennessee native with a bachelor's degree from 
Maryville College and masters' degrees in city planning from 
the University of Tennessee and in public administration 
from the University of Alabama, as well as the Ohio State 
doctorate in political science.

     A resident of UPPER ARLINGTON, Napier is currently vice 
mayor of that city as well as a long-time member of the city 
council  He is also a director of First Community Village 
and the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA, and is active nationally in 
the United Negro College Fund and the National League of 
Cities.

     Napier said that he plans to continue working through 
much of the summer at the Board of Regents to ease the 
transition there.

                            #

CONTACTS: William Napier, (614) 466-6000
          Malcolm Baroway, executive director,
          University Communications (614) 292-6895

Photo available; call Ruth Gerstner, (614) 292-8424.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 15 Jul 1996 16:20:21 -0400]
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