Clarey Castner's abrupt resignation from one of the University of Nebraska's most powerful posts caught his employees by surprise and left a lingering mystery in its wake.
Castner resigned late Wednesday as the University of Nebraska Foundation's CEO, mere months after the foundation completed the best fundraising year in its history, hauling in $172 million.
The 46-year-old resigned despite a salary and bonuses that paid him more than $400,000 in 2010 — a salary that placed him alongside NU President J.B. Milliken and University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Harold Maurer as the three highest-paid men affiliated with the university, outside the athletic department.
He resigned because of "management issues," according to the foundation board's chairman and a University of Nebraska regent, who both declined to specify what exactly those issues were.
"It's confidential for good reason," said Regent Howard Hawks on Thursday, when asked about the reason for Castner's abrupt departure. "Based on my knowledge of the philosophical differences, I would be in Dr. Whitted's camp."
That would be Dr. Peter Whitted, an Omaha ophthalmologist who took over Jan. 1 as chairman of the NU Foundation board. The private, nonprofit foundation exists to raise money for the university's four campuses.
In a brief interview Wednesday night, Whitted hinted that a clash of styles led to Castner's departure.
"It's confidential for good reason," said Regent Howard Hawks on Thursday, when asked about the reason for Castner's abrupt departure. "Based on my knowledge of the philosophical differences, I would be in Dr. Whitted's camp."
That would be Dr. Peter Whitted, an Omaha ophthalmologist who took over Jan. 1 as chairman of the NU Foundation board. The private, nonprofit foundation exists to raise money for the university's four campuses.
"The bottom line is we got a new chairman, and he and I have differences in terms of the direction of the foundation and the way things should be operating," Castner said.
No matter the reason, Castner is leaving the foundation after a period of unparalleled fundraising success. In the seven years he served as president and then president/CEO, the foundation's assets have nearly doubled, to $1.7 billion.
In that time, the foundation has driven the funding bus on a slew of ambitious projects that have changed the look and size of each of the university's four campuses.
The NU Foundation kicked in millions to move the Nebraska State Fair off its old perch near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Since then, the foundation has raised millions more to turn the old state fairgrounds into Innovation Campus, which university leaders hope to develop into one of the nation's top university research parks.
In Omaha, fundraising has transformed the UNO campus.
A state-of-the art, $27 million business college opened two years ago near the Peter Kiewit Institute on the Ak-Sar-Ben campus. Last year, Roskens Hall, the old business college, received a $13 million facelift as it morphed into UNO's new education college.
Residence halls have also sprung up all over the UNO campus, helping transform the old commuter school into one that now boasts more than 10,000 undergraduate students.
The biggest impact of the private fundraising might be felt at the University of Nebraska Medical Center: Research towers, efforts to treat glaucoma and macular degeneration and now a new proposal, a $370 million project that would make the med center one of the world's elite cancer centers.
All this growth has been fueled in part by private dollars raised by the NU Foundation.
In recent years, an annual survey by the Council for Aid to Education has charted the foundation's rise relative to its peers.
In 2009, for example, the NU Foundation raised more money than any public university in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas or Missouri — as well as at least two Ivy League schools — though the foundation is aided by the fact that it's raising money for multiple campuses.
"Under Clarey Castner's leadership, the foundation has experienced unprecedented success in fundraising and a solid record of financial performance," University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken said Wednesday in a statement. "This has allowed the university to make critical investments and enjoy a level of momentum few other universities can claim."
"The Foundation has an outstanding board of directors and an excellent professional staff," Milliken said Thursday in a statements. "I am confident we will be successful in the campaign and that we will meet our goals with regard to important projects such as the UNMC cancer center."
John Gottschalk, former publisher of the Omaha World-Herald, will serve as the NU Foundation's interim president until Castner's successor can be found. Whitted said he assumed that a national search to replace Castner would take several months.
Gottschalk currently serves as chairman of the UNL part of the foundation's capital campaign, dubbed the Campaign for Nebraska, which is seeking to raise $1.2 billion for the university's four campuses.
He said Wednesday that foundation board leaders called him a few days ago, asking him "out of the blue" if he would be interested in the interim role.
"There's not going to be any earth-shaking movement here," Gottschalk said. "Steady as she goes. We'll continue the foundation's great success."
Castner, meanwhile, said he wasn't yet interested in talking about his own future.
Castner joined the foundation in 1989, a year after he graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He rose quickly through the foundation during his 20-year stay, becoming an executive vice president in 2001, president in 2005 and CEO in 2008.
"I'm just so proud of the trajectory that it's all going, you know," Castner said. "For me personally, it's just sad. . Things are really, really, really going well, and it was fun to be a part of that."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1064, matthew.hansen@owh.com
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