MIT Executive Vice President John Curry announced today that he will leave MIT in early September to join the Huron Consulting Group, a national financial and operations consulting firm headquartered in Chicago. Curry will be managing director in Huron's higher education practice and will work out of the firm's Boston office.
"I have had the most challenging and stimulating experience I could imagine at MIT, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues at Huron to help many colleges and universities address the problems posed by an increasingly complex world," said Curry, who came to MIT in 1998 as the Institute's first executive vice president. He is responsible for the Institute's overall administrative and financial affairs, including operations, financial management and planning, human resources, information services and technology, facilities and capital construction, audit, campus security, the office of sponsored research, environmental health and safety and legal services.
"In his nearly seven years here, John has overseen the transformation of many facets of administrative and financial services, including the redesign of business processes through the implementation of the SAP financial and human resources system," said President Susan Hockfield in an e-mail sent to MIT employees and faculty this afternoon. "He led the massive capital renewal program that added 1.5 million square feet to the campus, including the Ray and Maria Stata Center, the Al and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center, Simmons Hall and the new Brain and Cognitive Sciences Project.
"I am grateful for all John has done in service to MIT, and for his committed leadership of the 1,600 administrative and financial employees within the Office of the Executive Vice President. I know that all of us wish John the very best in this next step in his service to higher education," said Hockfield.
President Emeritus Charles M. Vest said, "John Curry's expertise and leadership were critical as MIT adjusted to a rapidly changing climate of finance, government regulation and increased complexity of use of private resources. He oversaw the necessary massive transformations of our financial, administrative and service systems and organizations, yet did so without ever losing sight of our core academic mission. We worked especially closely on the renewal of our campus.
"John was a great colleague who took on many of the 'thankless' jobs that must be done in a modern university. MIT is better because of his service, and I am grateful for it. His national reputation left him constantly in demand to give advice to other universities, so I know that he will be successful and helpful to American higher education in his new role," Vest said.
Curry has spent his career in finance and operations in higher education. Before joining the MIT administration, he was vice president for business and finance at the California Institute of Technology, administrative vice chancellor and chief financial officer at the University of California at Los Angeles, and vice president for budget and planning at the University of Southern California. He holds a B.A. in physics and an M.A. in mathematics from West Virginia University in his home state. He completed coursework for a doctorate in mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and an National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship in Organizational Research and management internship at Stanford University before entering higher education management.
Curry and his wife, Dr. Kristine Dillon, and their youngest son, Patrick, live in Brighton.
Hockfield said that the search to replace Curry would begin soon. She said she welcomes comments from MIT community members about the key financial and administrative issues the Institute is likely to face in the years ahead and asks that comments and concerns be sent to her by letter or via e-mail to evpcomments@mit.edu.
