David Creamer, senior vice president for administration, will soon head south following the acceptance of a similar position at Miami University in Oxford.

Effective June 1, Creamer will assume the role of Miami’s vice president for finance and business services and treasurer.

“David Creamer is a proactive leader, who is highly knowledgeable about higher education and its challenges,” said President David Hodge of Miami University in a press release. “His extensive experience in finance, and his energy and enthusiasm will help Miami navigate the challenges ahead and achieve our vision for the future.”

Creamer, who said a firm conducting the candidate search for Miami contacted him, spent Jan. 28 and 29 in Oxford attending an open forum as one of the final two candidates.

In a message sent to his senior staff this morning, President Lester Lefton said Creamer’s “major contributions to Kent State” will help the university recruit an “outstanding successor.”

“A national search for his successor will begin immediately, and I am looking at options for interim leadership in anticipation there will be a short window of time between his departure and a successor’s start date,” Lefton wrote.

In a meeting with student media leaders last week, Creamer said his interest in the Miami position was not a negative toward Kent State.

“The institution (Kent State) means a lot to me,” he said, referring to the nearly 20 years he spent working in various roles at Kent State during the span of his 30-year career.

Creamer has been a vice president at Kent State since coming back to the university in 1998 from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, where he acted as vice president for finance and planning and treasurer. He previously held roles as director of internal audit and comptroller at Kent Stater earlier in his career.

As senior vice president for administration, Creamer oversees the university budget, facilities, building planning and construction, bursar and cash and investment management among other responsibilities.

Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine recognized Creamer as one of the region’s top money managers in October by awarding him the 2007 Chief Financial Officer of the year for the non-profit education sector.

Contact administration reporter Jackie Valley at [email protected].