Richard P. "Dick" Siemer

"In this important position, Dick Siemer's even-tempered leadership style and his extensive organizational and management skills are precisely the qualities necessary to help take UK to the next level of achievement.This job requires someone who can make reasoned and rapid decisions within an amazing range of responsibilities, and everyone who has met Dick Siemer believes he is up to this new challenge."

-- Lee T. Todd Jr.,
president,
University of Kentucky

May 20, 2003 (Lexington, Ky.) – Richard P. "Dick" Siemer, a long-time senior administrator who is currently vice president for finance and treasurer of Ohio University, has been chosen as executive vice president for finance and administration at the University of Kentucky, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees.

Siemer will take office no later than Aug. 1, replacing Jack Blanton who has served as acting senior vice president for finance and administration since Lee T. Todd Jr. became UK's 11th president July 1, 2001. Following his retirement Aug. 1, Blanton will assume post-retirement special assignments for UK, including teaching a course in educational administration this fall.

In making the announcement of Siemer's appointment, President Todd noted that a major national search to fill the position yielded four superb candidates who were interviewed by students, faculty and staff.

"In this important position, Dick Siemer's even-tempered leadership style and his extensive organizational and management skills are precisely the qualities necessary to help take UK to the next level of achievement," Todd said."This job requires someone who can make reasoned and rapid decisions within an amazing range of responsibilities, and everyone who has met Dick Siemer believes he is up to this new challenge."

"UK is a great university and I'm honored to be asked to be a part of it," Siemer said. "I met a lot of wonderful people during my interviews there, and I look forward to meeting the rest of the university community as I walk around the campus."

Siemer, who was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati (1968) and a master's degree in business administration and finance from Troy State University (1976). He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
After military service from 1969 to 1978, Siemer was a systems auditor for the Huffy Corporation/Dubois Chemicals in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1979 to 1982.

He served as financial accounting systems project manager at the University of Maryland, 1983-1984, and as comptroller of the University of Maryland System from 1984 to 1986.

In 1986, he was named university auditor and assistant to the executive vice president at Duke University and served in that capacity until he was promoted to chief of staff for administrative services in 1992; he held that position until 1997.

He assumed his current position at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, in 1997. At Ohio, Siemer is responsible for the financial and management infrastructure of the institution, which is a $500 million Carnegie Level II Research University with 28,000 students on its home campus and five regional campuses, with 4,000 employees and an Osteopathic Medical Center.

Siemer also taught as an adjunct professor at all the universities where he served. The classes he taught included political science, public sector finance and budgeting, computer science, and accounting and leadership seminars. He will be accompanied to Lexington by his wife, Pam, who is currently the assistant vice president for government relations at Ohio University.