Davidson leader is leaving

College will form panel to find successor to Bobby Vagt

CHARLOTTE -- The president of Davidson College says he will step down in a year because the school needs fresh leadership.

Bobby Vagt, a 1969 Davidson graduate, has been at the helm of the Presbyterian college since 1997. He led Davidson through its most successful fundraising campaign -- raising $272 million over seven years -- and oversaw numerous physical changes to the campus, including the construction and renovation of several buildings.

"The institution needs somebody, after a decade, as dynamic as it is," Vagt, 59, said Thursday.

John McCartney, chairman of the school's board, said Davidson's 49 trustees will form a search committee in coming weeks.

Vagt had experience in finance, psychology and business -- but not academia -- when he became president in May 1997. He had led the school's Annual Fund for two years, and his professional background included time spent as a psychologist, a prison warden and head of the corporation that bailed New York City out of bankruptcy in the 1970s.

"Bobby was an unusual choice to be a college president," McCartney said. "It is a tribute to the search committee from 10 years ago that they recognized those leadership and management skills in a nontraditional candidate."

Vagt told Davidson's board that he will stay on the job during the search for his successor.

The news came as a surprise to many associated with the 1,600-student school, where Vagt was known for charisma, leadership and involvement that included attending lectures and shouting encouragement from the sidelines of football games.

"He has a phenomenal relationship with students as well as trustees [and] staff," said Beverly Smith Hance, a trustee, donor and parent of two recent Davidson graduates.

Vagt was also credited with diversifying the student body and the administration, voting with the majority of trustees last year to allow non-Christians to be elected as trustees for the first time in the school's nearly 170-year history.

That move stunned some prominent alumni and former trustees.

Former Charlotte mayor and top individual donor John Belk resigned from the board.

Vagt told The Charlotte Observer that he is unsure what he will do once he steps down.

"My wife and I have not really spent a whole lot of time figuring that out," he said. "We've tossed around everything from teaching school to doing something abroad."