One of the University’s top finance executives is departing this semester.
Ann McCorvey, the deputy executive vice president and treasurer, is leaving GW to serve as the next vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer at Davidson College in North Carolina. After a five-year run at GW, her tenure at Davidson starts on Feb. 1, according to a release from the college Monday.
“Davidson provides me the opportunity to join a team that is dedicated to the same goal as mine – making a difference in young people’s lives so that they can make a difference in the world,” she said in the release.
McCorvey is the fifth high-ranking administrator to leave GW since University President Thomas LeBlanc took the helm of the University in 2017. A University spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
“She is precisely the kind of leader we need as Davidson expands the experiences and opportunities that help cultivate in our students the courage to lead and serve in the world that awaits them,” Carol Quillen, the president of Davidson College, said in the release.
During her time at GW, McCorvey led the University through years of financial hardships, including an unanticipated drop in graduate enrollment in 2014 that prompted several rounds of budget cuts. Officials created a five-year plan for recovery, but the University has exceeded budget projections for two consecutive years.
She managed an operating budget of more than $1 billion and an endowment that fluctuated between roughly $1.4 and $1.7 billion. Under her leadership, GW paid back millions of dollars in bonds and took out an almost $800 million bond last year to refinance debt and fund development projects. McCorvey oversaw the University’s partnership with an outside firm to manage GW investments in 2014.
McCorvey also faced criticism in 2016 when she announced that the University would not commit to divesting from the fossil fuel industry after years of student activism on the subject. About 72 percent of students voted in favor of divestment in 2015 in a Student Association referendum.
