Thank You, EVP and CAO Scarboro
Dec. 5, 2022
Dear LMU Community:
With hearty gratitude and a heavy heart, I share that Lynne B. Scarboro, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, will retire on June 10, 2023. For two glorious decades, EVP Scarboro’s visionary leadership has helped transform our university. Our collaborator-in-chief has served three university presidents during an era of unprecedented growth in the size, scope, and complexity of the university and its campus operations. As one of the most talented administrators in higher education, her abundant creativity, coupled with her strategic prowess, ensured that we always delivered on the promise of academic excellence, uplifting LMU’s student and faculty experience and enabling us to thrive, even through our more challenging times.
EVP Scarboro joined LMU as vice president for administration in 2002, later senior vice president, and since 2017 has been the university's inaugural executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Throughout her tenure, she has reimagined how our administrative areas serve the core operating needs of LMU, always conscious of how our decisions and resources best serve our academic goals more effectively. She will leave a lasting imprint on the areas she led, including: Auxiliary and Business Services, Campus Safety Services, Conference and Event Services, Facilities Management, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology Services, and Parking and Transportation. EVP Scarboro’s outstanding leadership of ambitious initiatives has benefited our community time and again and will continue to elevate generations of Lions to come.
EVP Scarboro has enriched LMU’s core operational functions by ennobling an organizational culture that is collaborative, service-oriented, and student/faculty-centered. She and her leadership team have revolutionized our day-to-day operations in ways that have advanced our mission, sustained and safeguarded our community, and ensured a financially sound future. This was most evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, when EVP Scarboro helped lead efforts to transition swiftly to remote learning and working while implementing pandemic protocols, establishing on-site COVID-19 test and vaccination centers, and protecting the health and safety of our community.
EVP Scarboro’s leadership has changed LMU’s campuses in ways enduring. She oversaw the construction of Leavey 6 (2005), Del Rey North and South (2005), and the Thomas P. Kelly Jr. Student Art Gallery (2007), as well as two cornerstones of LMU’s campus life, the William H. Hannon Library (2009) and the Life Sciences Building (2015). In 2017, with EVP Scarboro’s leadership, we opened the LMU Playa Vista Campus, our university’s creative center for graduate and professional education in Silicon Beach, anchored by our top-ranked LMU School of Film and Television. During the pandemic, her team completed an impressive array of additions to the Westchester campus, including two residence halls, Palm North and Palm South (2020); the Howard B. Fitzpatrick Pavilion (2021); and the Drollinger Family Stage (2021). She led renovations of the Von der Ahe Building, St. Robert’s Auditorium, the beach volleyball courts, the University Hall atrium and bridge study areas, and other projects too numerous to capture here. Her ambitions to reinvigorate our academic facilities continue: Strub Theatre is up next!
EVP Scarboro’s areas have consistently achieved successes that have substantially enhanced LMU’s reputation. Our information technology organization is often cited by peers as a national leader in higher education. We are the only institution to be recognized five times (including a three-peat) as Recyclemania Champions, and the Princeton Review continues to rank us as among the top ten greenest and most beautiful campuses. EVP Scarboro was also instrumental in the development of LMU Cares, in collaboration with Student Affairs and Human Resources, which is also recognized for its excellence and outcomes. On a personal note, my first experience of EVP Scarboro’s myriad gifts took place when she helped produce my presidential inauguration in 2015, where she inspired our collective creativity and showcased the wondrous talents of our community.
The search committee for the next EVP will be chaired by Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas Poon, supported by committee members (listed below) and campus leaders. Our next EVP will continue to lead the same broad range of functions that support the university’s operations across the Administration and Finance divisions. We will provide periodic updates about our search progress in LMU This Week.
When EVP Scarboro reflects on her points of pride, she always speaks from the heart about her care for her team, for her colleagues, and for the relationships that make possible what we do at LMU. She also speaks to her restless desire to serve and uplift our students and faculty, which I believe exemplifies the magis spirit. We have been blessed to know Lynne as our colleague and friend, and though we will miss her wisdom, creativity, and boundless dedication to our LMU mission (and her sharp, “tell it like it is” feedback), she leaves a legacy upon which we will continue to build.
I look forward to honoring EVP Scarboro’s many contributions to LMU between now and June, including a retirement celebration on the afternoon of April 17, 2023 (details forthcoming). We are indebted to Lynne for her transformative impact on LMU, and we wish her the best on the exciting next chapters of her life.
With sincere appreciation and thanks,
Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President
Search Committee
Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Chair
Thomas Poon, Executive Vice President and Provost
Members
Robbin Crabtree, Dean, Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts
Lisa Jackson, Staff Senate President, Director of Special Events
Aimee Uen, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Marianna Villa, Associate Vice President for External Relations and Partnerships
Leon Wiebers, Faculty Senate President, Chair of Theatre Arts and Professor of Costume Design
Mike Wong, Vice President for Campus Operations
Ex officio
Rebecca Chandler, Vice President for Human Resources
Grace Ghias, Manager of Strategic Initiatives
John Parrish, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Institutional Strategy