Details About The Executive Director of Dining Services Position
Responsibilities of the Position
Reporting to the senior associate vice president for campus operations, the executive director of dining services provides senior leadership, logistical management, and financial oversight for the University’s award-winning and self-operated food services program serving a predominantly residential undergraduate campus of 4,000 students and 1,700 faculty, staff, guests, and visitors. The dining program includes the Heilman Dining Center, an all-you-care-to-eat marketplace eatery, eight retail dining locations, concessions, and a commissary and catering production area. Dining services generates revenues of over $21 M annually and employs approximately 190 full- and part-time regular staff in addition to 200 part-time student workers. The next executive director should be a proven leader who will actively participate in campus life and activities, work closely with the summer conferences program, and proactively support sustainability, diversity, staff development, and engagement. Key responsibilities include ensuring that best practices are identified and successfully implemented as part of all daily operations in culinary excellence, customer service, nutrition education, and accountable business systems.
Other key responsibilities, as outlined in the institutional position description, include:
Leadership
- Leads the strategic direction for the University dining program. Provides creative and responsive operation of all aspects of the campus dining program by cultivating a culture of teamwork, ownership, succession planning, and staff development.
- Fosters a culture of excellence and innovation. Keeps abreast of industry trends and ideas. Participates in and contributes to professional association activities and conferences.
- Cultivates effective campus and community partnerships, including various internal departments such as human resources, student development, sustainability, facilities, and athletics.
- Projects a positive image to promote dining and events. Engages in marketing and benchmarking initiatives to increase customer satisfaction and revenue.
- Provides strategic planning in developing new and current programs and facilities.
- Participates in decision-making as far as strategies, opportunities, potential conflicts, and other efforts related to the successful execution of events. Develops and maintains professional standards and procedures for event implementation in keeping with the image and reputation of the University.
Financial Management
- Manages the financial operations of dining services, including developing and monitoring departmental budgets, managing revenues and expenditures to meet established goals, and overseeing accounting responsibilities.
- Collaborates with the executive director of campus business services on accountability measures, financial and operational reporting, operational processes and procedures improvements, purchasing, IT application management, and business policies relevant to the department’s mission.
- Collaborates with appropriate team members and staff to develop timely annual budgets and monthly income projections. Ensures that revenues and expenses are efficiently managed to reach key financial goals.
- Analyzes benchmarking data and ensures standards are at, or above, satisfactory levels.
Operational Management
- Provides innovative services, ensuring culinary excellence while maintaining high satisfaction levels for students, staff, faculty, and guests.
- Cultivates communication and teamwork to create a welcoming and inclusive environment.
- Establishes and maintains high-quality customer service, safety standards, HACCP standards, cleanliness, and standard operational policies.
- Partners with human resources and compliance to ensure timely training and staff development programs are in place and routinely administered.
- Delivers cutting-edge student programs, services, food quality, and events.
- Actively engages a variety of avenues to solicit and respond to feedback.
- Enthusiastically supports campus sustainability efforts.
- Acts as a point of contact and active member of the University’s emergency management team. Manages inclement weather conditions, injuries, or any circumstance requiring total command and intervention.
Qualifications and Characteristics
The successful candidate must possess a bachelor’s degree, preferably in food service, hotel/restaurant management, or business administration, and ten years or more of progressive leadership or mid to senior management experience in a large-scale food and beverage operation. Five to seven years of experience working in a higher education setting is preferred. Qualified candidates must have demonstrated tact and diplomacy to work and lead within a University’s community; the ability to apply critical thinking, exercise flexibility, and work calmly and efficiently under pressure; excellent interpersonal and conflict resolution skills; strong aptitude for verbal and written communication, presentation, and relationship development; effective management of diverse human resource needs; ability to identify, develop and provide work force training opportunities for staff at all levels; demonstrated understanding of special needs of customers including, but not limited, to nutrition, religious, dietary, and ADA requirements; thorough knowledge of best practices in management for large quantity foodservice, catering, and retail food service operations; demonstrated collaborative approach to teamwork, organization, administration, and problem solving; knowledge of financial strategies and finance-related performance metrics; excellent fiscal management skills; ability to learn and use current technologies; capacity to recognize public relations matters as they relate to the standards of the institution.
In addition to the qualifications stated above, key stakeholders identified the following capabilities and attributes of a successful candidate:
- Strong, engaged, innovative and effective leader
- Transformational leader
- Strategic thinker and leader
- Ability to amplify the strengths of the dining program
- Creative and flexible problem solver
- Change management capacity
- Exceptional planning and organizational skills
- Excellent communications and listening skills
- Student and customer service focus
- Expertise in dining trends for higher education
- Adaptable to a unique campus culture
- Experience in capital and renovation planning
- Team player and bridge-builder
- Experience in sustainable dining programs
- Experience in forging effective partnerships
- Transparency
- Experience in developing staff and their talents
- Confident leadership
- Exceptional supervisory experience
- Effective manager of resources
- Quality-oriented
- Aligned with institutional values and mission
- Experience with technology that supports dining operations
- Strong business acumen
- Connects well with dining staff
History of the Position
Theresa Baker has served as the executive director since 2019. This open position results from her upcoming retirement in the spring of 2024.
Opportunities and Challenges of the Role
The University of Richmond’s award-winning dining program is nationally ranked and will be an attractive position for qualified candidates. The university’s reputation and mission will be a draw to leaders who seek an institution with high-impact practices and one that promotes innovation to serve its community better.
Award-Winning Reputation: Richmond ranked 11th in the 2023 Princeton Review for Best Campus Food. The commitment to excellence and amplifying the strengths of this program will be crucial for the new executive director.
Marketing: Creates and implements comprehensive marketing programs with effective strategies to support the brand. Provides consistency in messaging and brand development across all venues and operations.
Sustainability: There is a focus on being good stewards of resources and providing leadership within the campus dining industry. Candidates with a background in green purchasing, waste reduction, recycling, composting, and environmentally sound cleaning practices will be most welcomed.
Strategic Leadership: The executive director must demonstrate a leadership style that is credible and collegial while being highly effective. They must promote a shared vision based on the complexity and multiple priorities of the dining program.
Growth and Renovation: The new executive director will come into an area planning to renovate and expand some dining options. Experience with design and construction will be considered in this search.
Partnerships: The executive director will be a visible leader on campus, working to build strong collaborations and partnerships to advance the University’s mission and goals. They should have the political savvy to understand the impact that dining has in building community success.
Staff Development: The new executive director will need a staff recruitment, retention, succession planning, and training background. Demonstrated experience with formalized training programs and long-term staff development is a priority for this role.
Communication: The executive director must have strong communication skills to effectively market services and programs to all campus stakeholders. Manages the overall social media voice of Dining Services and Campus Operations. They should also have exceptional skills when managing communication related to issues and crises.
Measures of success
The items listed below will define the new executive director’s success throughout the first year of employment:
- The executive director has established collaborative partnerships at the University of Richmond that enhanced dining services goals and successfully supported the University’s mission.
- The executive director has demonstrated an effective and collegial leadership style while successfully advancing the department’s goals.
- The executive director is seen as an advocate for students and campus community, approachable, and understanding of students and all concerns.
- The executive director has demonstrated they are a valuable thought leader, joining the senior associate vice president and other community members in advancing strategic priorities for the operation.
- The executive director has maintained and developed quality relationships with dining staff and created a culture and practice of positive support for talent development and training.
- The executive director is known as an innovative leader. They are sought out for their knowledge of trends and changes in the dining services industry.
Learn More
Overview of Dining Services
Dining services at the University of Richmond is an award-winning program. The dining services team takes great pride in maintaining high standards of professional excellence in all they do for the campus community. Their goal is to provide a clean, efficient, and responsible dining services program by offering friendly and courteous service to their guests, presenting quality, tastefully prepared, and attractive food, and maintaining the highest standards of sanitation in all operations. Locations on campus offer the all-you-care-to-eat service at the Heilman dining center, convenience stores, a coffee shop, four cafes, the campus pub, and a demonstration kitchen. Dining service’s high standards of professionalism are focused on students’ well-being and fueling the campus community’s pursuits.
Dining services is a part of the business affairs division, which conducts the business of the university within a framework of exemplary business practices and in ways that consistently enhance the educational experience of students and advance the reputation of the university.
Maria O’Callaghan-Cassidy
get to know
Institutional Leadership
Maria O’Callaghan-Cassidy is a proactive and strategic leader with over 20 years of experience in operations, facilities, and planning. O’Callaghan-Cassidy recently joined the University of Richmond community as the senior associate vice president of campus operations and oversees a diverse team of over 450 employees who provide goods and services required to meet the university’s educational objectives. These include campus business services, dining services, events, facilities, and design and construction.
O’Callaghan-Cassidy is the current chair of Women in Facilities Management (WIFM) and served as the vice chair of the Executive Committee for the Building Owners and Management Association of Philadelphia (BOMA). She also serves on the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Facility Management Program Academic Advisory Board at Temple University. O’Callaghan-Cassidy has been a member of the International Facilities Management Association since 2002 and served on the international committee to update the Certified Facilities Manager (CFM) certification exam. She holds a master’s in science from the University of Pennsylvania and is a frequent guest speaker for operational innovation and sustainability.
David B. Hale
get to know
Institutional Leadership
David Hale is the executive vice president and chief operating officer at the University of Richmond, and is responsible for the oversight of the divisions of Business Affairs, Athletics, and Information Services and serves on the Board of Managers of Spider Management Company, LLC, a wholly controlled affiliate of the University. Hale joined the University as vice president for business and finance and treasurer in July 2013.
Prior to joining Richmond, Hale served at Colgate University for 20 years, and for 12 years served as vice president for finance and treasurer. Previously at Colgate, Hale worked as associate director of planned giving, assistant treasurer, and director of financial analysis and investments. Hale holds a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a master’s degree in accounting from Stern School of Business at New York University.
Learn More
Institutional Overview
The University of Richmond is committed to educating in an intellectually vibrant community dedicated to the holistic development of students. As a top-20 liberal arts university, the institution celebrates the idea of a changing and evolving world and makes it their mission to prepare students to lead it. The University of Richmond blends the intimacy of a small college with exceptional academic, research, and cultural opportunities usually found only at large institutions. The suburban campus consists of 350 acres and is located just six miles from downtown Richmond. ‘The River City’ is full of outdoor activities on the James River, restaurants on multiple must-visit lists, and Fortune 500 businesses. Approximately 91 percent of students live on campus all four years. Students make a home and build real connections while at the University. The University of Richmond works hard to guarantee that all students of all backgrounds can come together, learn together, and grow together.
The Student Body
Total Enrollment: 3,890
Undergraduate: 3,164
Graduate: 726
More Facts and Rankings about UR
Kevin F. Hallock
get to know
Institutional Leadership
Kevin F. Hallock is the 11th president of the University of Richmond. He enjoys working and engaging with UR’s students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents, and friends. He believes that the University can become even more remarkable by converging resources and energy around five strategic priorities: academic excellence, belonging and community, access and affordability, well-being, and experiential learning and community engagement.
An award-winning teacher, Hallock is a labor market economist and the author or editor of 11 books and over 100 publications. He holds the appointment of distinguished university professor of economics at the University of Richmond and most recently taught a first-year student seminar on why people earn what they earn.
Hallock is a fellow of the national academy of human resources and a research associate at the national bureau of economic research. He serves on the boards of the Jepson Scholars Foundation, Venture Richmond, and Homeward, a Richmond nonprofit dedicated to preventing, reducing, and ending homelessness. He co-founded PayStandards, a software company that uses analytics to improve pay equity and strengthen the pay-to-performance link, and now serves as senior advisor to the organization.
Senior Leadership Organizational Chart
Institutional Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
“Members of the University of Richmond community embrace the dignity, worth, and well-being of all individuals. We recognize that our diversity is among our greatest strengths, serving as a foundation for academic and workplace excellence that enriches our entire University community and is an essential feature of our mission to prepare students to lead lives of purpose…in a diverse world.
Our shared values of student growth, the pursuit of knowledge, educational opportunity, diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging, and ethical engagement reflect our commitment to making Richmond’s transformative education accessible to students from all backgrounds; to promoting thoughtful, intellectually rigorous, and respectful engagement with a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, and perspectives; and to fostering a diverse learning community and workplace in which all Spiders feel as though they belong in our web and can fully and authentically participate in University life.
We acknowledge that all of us—students, staff, and faculty—share responsibility for upholding, implementing, and embodying these values.”
Learn More
Benefits Overview
Click here to learn more about the benefits University of Richmond offers.
Application and Nomination
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. A resume with an accompanying cover letter may be submitted via the Spelman Johnson website at www.spelmanjohnson.com/open-positions. Nominations for this position and questions about the status of the search may be emailed to Laura Puckett-Boler at lpb@spelmanjohnson.com. Applicants needing reasonable accommodation to participate in the application process should contact Spelman Johnson at 413-529-2895 or email info@spelmanjohnson.com.
The compensation for this position will be competitive, along with relocation assistance and a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, paid leave, retirement, tuition assistance, and more.
Visit the University of Richmond website at https://www.richmond.edu/.
UR Dining Services website: https://dining.richmond.edu/
The University of Richmond values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity for all persons regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.