Power Move: Temple University hires future-of-work-focused Jason Wingard as president

Power Moves is a column where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, new gig or promotion? Email us: philly@technical.ly.

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After nearly a year of searching for a new president, Temple University today announced its Board of Trustees had confirmed Jason Wingard, a former leader at the Wharton School, Columbia University and Stanford University, to the position as of July 1.

He succeeds former President Richard Englert, who became president in 2016 and has had a more than 45-year career with the university. Englert announced his intended retirement last summer, prompting a nationwide search for his replacement.

Wingard, 49 and a native of West Chester, will be the university’s first Black president in its 137 years, and will be tasked with the institution’s return to in-person learning plan. The university currently says it anticipates welcoming a substantial number of students and faculty back to campus in the fall for a semester of primarily in-person classes. This follows a challenging school year that forced Temple students online, with its own costs.

“At a time when the uncertainty of the global marketplace is challenging the future of learning and work, Temple will lead the progression of a career readiness agenda, built on a foundation of innovation and adaptability, to advance knowledge for relevant impact,” Wingard said in a statement. “I look forward to the work that we will undertake together, and I believe that for all this institution has achieved over the past 137 years, Temple University’s best days are yet to come.”

Wingard was selected in the search led by an 18-member Presidential Search Committee appointed by the university’s Board of Trustees which was assisted by Storbeck Search, a member of the Diversified Search Group. He will be the university’s 12th president, most recently serving as dean and emeritus professor of the Columbia’s School of Professional Studies before he stepped down from the role last summer.

Wingard holds a BA in sociology from Stanford, a master’s of education from Emory University, an Ed.M. degree in technology in education from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. He’s also served as the managing director and chief learning officer at Goldman Sachs where he led the acclaimed Pine Street Leadership Development Group and Goldman Sachs University, and as founder and chairman of The Education Board, Inc., a local consulting firm specializing in organizational assessment, strategic planning, and learning and development.

As president, Wingard will lead the university’s 17 schools and colleges across eight campuses around the globe. The university currently has about 37,000 students and 8,700 staff across these locations. Mitchell Morgan, chair of Temple’s Board of Trustees, called out Wingard’s mix of academic leadership and business savvy as a driving force behind his appointment.

“Like many of Temple’s faculty, Dr. Wingard combines academic accomplishments with real-world experience. That’s been a hallmark of Temple’s education for generations,” Morgan said in a statement. “Dr. Wingard recognizes that higher education is changing, and his unique combination of academic and business success, together with his skills in the fields of leadership development, organizational strategy, and the future of work, make him a compelling choice to lead Temple into an exciting future filled with promise and new opportunity.”