Mercer resigning effective Aug. 31

Karen Mercer, vice president for business affairs, is resigning from Cornell College effective Aug. 31. 

Cornell President Jonathan Brand said Mercer’s leadership strengthened Cornell.

“I want to thank Karen for her work at Cornell, and for the way she completely embraces the mission of the college,” he said. “She is widely recognized by the Board of Trustees, as well as students, faculty, and staff, for having moved the college forward in very significant ways.”

A national search to find Mercer’s successor will begin early this summer. In the interim, Mercer’s duties will be shared by Special Assistant to the President and Interim Vice President for Enrollment Jim Brown and Controller Lois Mulbrook.  Brown will assume the business services functions while Mulbrook will assume the chief financial ones.

Mercer’s work at Cornell includes mentoring students. In 2009 she founded Cornell’s award-winning chapter of SIFE, an international student organization that supports entrepreneurship. In its first year she received the Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship.

“In a position where you serve for a short time in an institution’s long history, you stand on the shoulders of those who have served before and seek to honor their work while advancing the institution,” Mercer said. “Cornell’s purpose is strong, its people are so committed, and its students benefit in innumerable ways. I am proud to have been a part of this effort.”

Mercer joined Cornell on Sept. 8, 2008. She previously served as vice president of business and administrative services for Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, and in other senior finance roles.