From the President’s Office

Trent University is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Steven Pillar as the new Vice-President Administration, effective February 1, 2012, for a renewable five year term.

Mr. Pillar is currently the Vice-President Finance and Administration at Brock University, having served in this capacity since 2002.  Prior to his appointment at Brock, he was Saskatchewan’s Deputy Minister of Labour, and earlier held a number of administrative portfolios in the Saskatchewan provincial government including senior roles in finance, social services, education, and health. He also worked for 10 years as the Chief Financial Officer in a large urban school district in Delta, British Columbia.

A Toronto native, Steven holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Carleton University and an Honours BA in Political Science from York University.

“Steven Pillar will bring expertise, energy and in-depth knowledge of the university sector in Ontario to our senior administrative team,” said Dr. Steven E. Franklin, President and Vice-Chancellor. “He is ideally positioned to provide overall leadership to Trent’s administrative services including financial and capital project activities, physical resources, human resources, information technology services, purchasing and risk management portfolios, athletics and conferencing, as well as the development of the Multiyear Budget Framework and Trent’s Annual Operating Budget. The Search Committee is to be congratulated for their dedication and thoughtful approach throughout the search process leading to the recommendation to appoint Steven Pillar.”

Anne Wright, Trent University’s Board Chair served on the Search Committee and commented that “Steven Pillar has proven strategic leadership within a broad portfolio of administrative services, and his capacity for building innovative partnerships with government and community leaders will serve the university well in realizing Trent’s commitments and priorities as outlined in our new Integrated Plan.  Trent University is fortunate to have him join us in this critical leadership position."

In accepting the position, Mr. Pillar noted that “I am excited about this tremendous opportunity to bring my enthusiasm and experience to a new senior administrative team that is charting a dynamic new course for Trent University with participation by Board members, faculty, staff, alumni and students of the Trent community. I look forward to learning more about the ways in which I can contribute to Trent’s outstanding future.”

President Franklin, on behalf of the entire Trent University community, extended a special thank you to Mr. Garth Brownscombe, who has managed the Vice-President Administration portfolio on an acting basis since July 2011. "Garth has provided outstanding service to Trent University and during the past few months has been a source of effective counsel at the PVP table and strong financial leadership at the Board and in other settings. We are grateful to Garth for his exemplary service to the university and thank him for his leadership during this transition."

For more information about the search and the mandate for the Vice-President Administration, please visit http://www.trentu.ca/vpadminsearch/.