Hunter College Interim President Ann Kirschner has tapped Cynthia King Vance as the college’s interim vice president for strategic initiatives, the school has announced.
Vance most recently served as interim president and CEO for New York Public Radio, which, along with managing WNYC, WQXR, the local news website Gothamist, and the Greene performance space, is a leading podcast studio. She has extensive experience in both public education and in managing organizations during leadership transitions.
“We are so pleased to be able to deploy the considerable talents of Cynthia King Vance,” Kirschner said. “Hunter’s success in this time of transition depends on a joint effort across the college. Cynthia will help organize our work together as we advance Hunter’s academic and operational excellence. We will seek to identify areas of future opportunity and lay the groundwork for long-term success.”
Vance has a long history at Hunter. She served as a senior adviser to the president for student success from 2010 to 2018, working with many departments. She also has been in the classroom, creating and teaching Hunter’s entrepreneurship course from 2015 to 2021 and the capstone course of its Certificate of Business Studies.
Besides her familiarity with Hunter’s students, Vance earlier in her career led public-education projects that provided more opportunities for students at the New York City Department of Education, the Newark Public Schools, and an education nonprofit, Classroom Inc.
She started her career as a consultant and project leader at McKinsey & Company after completing her MBA at Harvard Business School and BA at Princeton University. She has served on the boards of several leading New York nonprofit organizations in leadership roles.
“This role is a homecoming for me,” Vance said. “I loved working with Hunter students, faculty, and staff, and I look forward to doing so again.”
