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THE NEW VICE PRESIDENT FOR alumni relations, David P. Spalding '76, isn't making any predictions yet about changes he'll institute or initiatives he'll launch. Instead, he acknowledges that having come back to campus after a career in finance, he'll first concentrate on getting a feel for his new role. "Alumni relations at Dartmouth is well regarded by other institutions, and I don't have a background in the field," he says. "So give me six months to get educated on the nuts and bolts."

In the meantime, Spalding is willing to comment on how his interest in the position developed. "I had decided on a career change," he says. "I wanted to get out of financial services and into nonprofit work. I had seen the position posted, but it wasn't until I was approached by the Colleges headhunter that I began to look into it carefully."

That careful look included a dinner with trustee Michael Chu '68, who teaches social responsibility and nonprofit management at the Harvard Business School. "Michael was instrumental," says Spalding. "He told me that if you're going to do nonprofit work, you have to go where you have a real passion. For me, that's always been Dartmouth."

Spalding succeeds Stan Collajr. '66, Tu'86, who served in the post from 1993 through the past summer. The extensive search that resulted in Spalding's appointment involved contact with more than 1,200 alumni and was conducted by a committee chaired by Provost Barry Scherr. "David Spalding emerged from a very strong pool of candidates," says Scherr, whose committee included Karen McKeel Calby '81 and Richard Routhier '73, Tu'76, the immediate past president and current president, respectively, of the Alumni Council; Ozzie Harris '81, special assistant to the president for institutional diversity and equity; Carolyn Pelzel '54A, vice president for development; and Cheryl Reynolds, executive director and secretary to the board of trustees.

Spalding, an Alpha Delta who was involved with the debate team and WDCR as an undergraduate, was most recently vice chairman of New York-based The Cypress Group, which he helped found in 1994. His first job after graduation was with the Chase Manhattan Bank, NA, where he became a second vice president. He left Chase to get his M.B.A. from New York University, and from 1983 through 1987 he was with The First National Bank of Chicago, where he became a vice president. From 1987 to 1988 he was senior vice president of GE Capital Corporate Finance Group Inc., and later served as a senior vice president and then a managing director of Lehman Brothers. For the last two years he has chaired the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro New York.

As to whether alumni should be more interactive with the College, Spalding draws a distinction: "I think the alumni need to be very informed. I personally have had plenty of opportunity through my association with the President's Leadership Council, the Dartmouth College Fund committee and several major gift campaigns for my class, but it's imperative that all alums get that same opportunity, not just those of us who are so deeply involved."

David Spalding

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "I'd rather just have a normal college experience than people be like, 'Hey, aren't you the kid that was on that show?'" SCOT PARSLEY '09, WHO EARNED A $50,000 SCHOLARSHIP ON ABC'S SUMMER REALITY SHOW THE SCHOLAR, QUOTED IN THE DARTMOUTH