May 8, 2006

The Board of Trustees met the first week in May. Here are excerpts from President Hochstettler’s report to the board:

I am pleased to report on several salient developments at the College that have occurred during the time since the last Board meeting in February, 2006:

1. The departure of Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Denis Ransmeier after only a year at Lewis & Clark has left a lacuna in the senior administrative staff that I am moving quickly to fill. Denis has agreed to remain in place through the end of this semester and into the summer, for which I am grateful. We are fortunate to have in Bill Schaeffer an experienced lieutenant to the Vice President, and I am confident that we will be well served by our existing staff during the interim. Meanwhile, I am moving forward expeditiously to fill the vacancy…;

2. The Planning Task Force is completing its work…The next step in the planning process will be for all of us to examine those recommendations closely, to vet the initiatives contained in the planning document, and to begin plotting next steps for moving forward to address the issues that have been raised by the group. As has been the case in the past, Board engagement will be crucial in our planning efforts going forward, and I am optimistic that the work of the Task Force can be translated into positive actions that will improve the quality and reputation of the College in significant ways;

3. The branding initiative has made considerable progress in recent weeks, with intense discussions on campus being the focus of activity on the part of our consultant Lipman and Hearne. Further research will be conducted in the coming months among our broader community—especially among alumni and other external constituents—with an eye toward gaining a deeper understanding of the attitudes and perceptions that those groups have of the College. The final report of the consultant is expected in early summer, and we will be sharing the recommendations with the Trustees as soon as they are available. I want to thank the Board members, especially John Bates, Peter Chang, as well as David LaFrance, President of the Alumni Board, and all other Trustees who have become engaged in this project and whose support has been critical in moving it forward.

4. The subcommittee of the Board that was charged with reviewing and possibly replacing the College’s investment consultant has worked with great thoroughness and deliberation during the last few months. The Investments Committee has approved the subcommittee’s recommendation to replace our long-standing consultant R.V. Kuhns with Cambridge Associates in assisting the College in the management of our endowment. I am most grateful to my colleagues on the subcommittee—Ken Novack, Bruce Burns, and John Bates—for their service in this regard. It bears repeating that we are all deeply indebted to the hard-working Investment Committee for its superb stewardship of the College’s investments, which has resulted in recent years in a sustained period of outstanding performance. The firm of R.V. Kuhns also deserves the gratitude of everyone at Lewis & Clark. Over the years, Russ Kuhns and his colleagues have been steady partners in our efforts to optimize our financial resources, and we are most appreciative.

During spring break, Chairman of the Board John Bates, Director of International Programs Greg Caldwell, and I took the opportunity to travel abroad to visit with alumni of the College and with parents and friends in London, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong. In the course of the nine-day trip, we were pleased to meet with many old and new friends and had, I think, great success in reinvigorating the relationship between Lewis & Clark and these far-flung outposts of the College community. It had been nearly a decade since a College delegation had visited the UAE, where the College enjoys the support of several dozen loyal alumni, not least among them Trustee Ahmed Al Badi. I am grateful to Ahmed and to all those who hosted us at every stop along our way for helping to stage many highly rewarding events on behalf of the College. I am also grateful to John and Greg for their indefatigable enthusiasm in championing Lewis & Clark among these important constituencies.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas J. Hochstettler

President