|
 Stephen M. Grimble, University of Delaware vice president and treasurer for seven years, has announced his retirement effective June 30, 2002.
Grimble, a 1966 UD alumnus, joined the University administration in 1995 after a distinguished international career as a senior finance executive with the DuPont Co. He said he plans to pursue other ventures after retirement, including writing, public service and possibly an entrepreneurial venture.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to have had the opportunity to serve my alma mater the past six-plus years,” Grimble said. “I am grateful to have been with the University during what I believe will be looked upon as a ‘golden era’ of growth and progress under Dr. [David P.] Roselle’s stewardship.”
Roselle said Grimble has made several important contributions to the institution during his term as treasurer.
“Steve Grimble is a proud alumnus of the University of Delaware and he has undertaken each and every one of his responsibilities as treasurer with the sort of energy, concern and love of the institution that his alumnus status would suggest,” Roselle said.
Working with the Board of Trustees and the president, the treasurer supervises all financial operations of the University, which has an annual budget of $529.5 million an endowment, which grew from $503 million in 1995 to $928 million in 2001.
Roselle said that under Grimble’s direction, the treasurer’s office performed its duties with distinction and did so while making reductions in the University’s administrative costs.
Grimble led changes in the manner in which the University’s endowment is managed, Roselle said, and those changes resulted in improved investment returns and additional financial support for the institution. He also presided over eight separate bond issues totaling $168 million. Some were in support of University projects, including the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the initiative to install sprinklers in all residence halls. Others were expense-saving reissues of earlier debt.
Roselle also praised Grimble for his work as one of the University’s leaders in efforts to build a hotel on campus. The facility will be constructed adjacent to the Clayton Hall conference center on the Laird campus.
“The hotel project will result in an increase in the number of conferences held on campus, make it possible for the University to be a better host for parents and other visitors, and serve as a laboratory for students enrolled in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management,” Roselle said.
In addition, Roselle said Grimble was the University’s “point person” in gaining all of the approvals needed for construction and financing of the University Courtyards project, which Roselle said is almost certainly the “largest urban renewal project in the history of Newark.”
“Because this project involved the City of Newark, the University, a private company and the need for financing, it was complex,” Roselle said. “The fact that it is now a very popular housing option for University students is in no small part due to Mr. Grimble’s good efforts.”
Before being named University treasurer, Grimble held various financial staff and management positions at the DuPont Co. from 1966-93. As director of finance for DuPont Chemicals from 1992-93, he was the chief financial officer for four global business groups with total annual sales of more than $3.5 billion.
His other positions at DuPont included vice president of finance for DuPont South America from 1990-92, comptroller for medical products from 1988-90 and group director for Latin America and Australia from 1986-88.
A captain in the U.S. Air Force, Grimble served in Vietnam from 1969-70 and was awarded the Bronze Star and Air Force commendation medals.
In 1998, Grimble published a book based on his lifelong fascination with baseball. The 200-page book, Setting the Record Straight: Baseball's Greatest Batters, uses statistical analysis to identify the game's 50 greatest batters of the 20th century.
Grimble serves on the Board of Trustees of Valley Forge Military Academy and College. He also is a director of the Delaware Foundation for Science and Mathematics Education and Community Housing Inc. of Wilmington.
He and his wife, Eliete, live in Wilmington.
Jan. 31, 2002
|
