LSU Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Dan Layzell is leaving for Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where he has accepted a position as vice president, COO and CFO.
Cornell—a private, liberal arts college with just 1,020 students—announced his hiring on its website late Thursday, saying that after working for more than six years at a university system with eight campuses and almost 50,000 students, Layzell “realized he missed the Midwest and the small college setting.”
Layzell and his wife are both graduates of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Layzell came to LSU in 2014 under former President F. King Alexander, who stepped down last December to accept a position as president of Oregon State University.
Though he was not a public face of the university, Layzell was instrumental behind the scenes in restructuring many of the ways the university does business, including implementing new purchasing and procurement systems; working with the LSU Foundation to create the Real Estate and Facilities Foundation, which oversees public private partnerships like the lakes project and the Nicholson Gateway; and implementing new technology systems for payroll, HR and finance functions.
Layzell says he’s proud of the work he did at LSU but was looking for new challenges, when recruiters for Cornell College reached out to him several months ago.
“They’re an excellent liberal arts college. They’re well placed to come out of this pandemic stronger than ever and for me it’s a new challenge, a new organizational setting, and I’m looking forward to getting into some new challenges.”
Cornell College ranked 76th out of more than 220 liberal arts colleges in the most recent rankings of colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report.
Layzell’s departure leaves a hole at LSU at a time when the president’s position remains unfilled. LSU Law Center Chancellor Tom Galligan has been serving as interim president since January.
There has been no word for months on the LSU Board of Supervisors search for a new president.
Layzell begins his new job at Cornell Oct. 19.
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