External affairs VP leaves for Brown after 15 years at UM

Senior Vice President of University Advancement and External Affairs Sergio Gonzalez. Photo courtesy University of Miami.
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Senior Vice President of University Advancement and External Affairs Sergio Gonzalez. Photo courtesy University of Miami.

Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice president of university advancement and external affairs, will be leaving the University of Miami to become the next senior vice president of advancement at Brown University this July.

In an email sent by President Julio Frenk on Tuesday, the president described his “mixed feelings” about Gonzalez’s departure from the university after 15 years of service. In his role at the university, Gonzalez oversaw multiple university operations including development, communications, community relations and alumni relations.

Gonzalez, who graduated from Georgetown University with his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service in 1986 and from Columbia University with his law degree, played a lead role in UM’s Momentum and Momentum2 fundraising campaigns that raised over $3 billion in total. He was also responsible for the implementation of the “U” logo as the university’s official visual brand.

Among one of the more recent university projects Gonzalez contributed to was the new student housing complex set to begin construction this summer and open in fall 2019.

“The university’s innovative residential housing project is an exciting and major addition to our Coral Gables campus,” Gonzalez said in a statement to The Miami Hurricane in January 2017. “This is also an occasion for our alumni and friends of the university to be part of the tremendous endeavor through donor and naming opportunities.”

Gonzalez’s departure comes on the heels of several other notable administrative transitions, including former Dean of Students Ricardo Hall and former Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas LeBlanc. Hall accepted a position at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania as Vice Provost in Student Affairs while LeBlanc at George Washington University as president.

Last May, the former dean of Miller School of Medicine, Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, also announced his departure and was succeeded by current dean Dr. Edward Abraham. In early 2017, Chief Financial Officer Joe Natoli, former president of the Miami Herald and publisher of Philadelphia Daily News, also stepped down.

According to the email, Gonzalez’s last day at UM will be July 31.

Correction, May 16, 2017, 8:47 p.m.: A previous version of this story stated that Sergio Gonzalez oversaw the new student housing complex project, which is incorrect. Gonzalez contributed to fundraising efforts for the complex. The article has been updated to reflect this information.