The University of New Haven is honored to welcome back Thad Henry under the position of Special Executive Assistant to President Kaplan.

From 2000 to 2006, Henry worked for the UNH Vice President of University Advancement. Then he perused similar opportunities at other companies and universities, recently coming from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina, where he was the Special Assistant to the President for Leadership and Advancement, a position he held since 2012.

He was Special Assistant to the Dean for Advancement Strategy at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business from 2010 to 2012 and was a Senior Consultant at Corporate DevelopMint in Charleston, South Carolina, from 2007 to 2011.

One of the reasons Henry is back at UNH would be that Gail Tagliatela, the Chief of Staff and University Secretary, has asked to work part time to start preparing for retirement. Kaplan also combined the Chief of Staff position with being a significant part of the fundraising department, creating the Special Executive Assistant position for Henry.

When President Kaplan generally seeks for people to work directly for him, he expects to find those with a high intelligence, a creative mind, a great work ethic and a strong personality to disagree with him in order to bring a different perspective. A sense of humor is also preferred.

Kaplan feels that Henry is best for the job because he understands UNH very well from working here in the past. He also understands the school’s mission, is passionate about experiential education, works well with different kinds of people, and is an exceptional strategic fundraiser.

Henry’s fundraising portion of his job is broken down into three parts. One, being fundraising; he seeks donors to sponsor a gift-supported project, such as a residence hall or a classroom building.

Next, he serves as Kaplan’s administrative assistant to more forward in experiential education. These opportunities include internships, the study aboard program, and UNH’s SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship).

The other part is the marketing and branding of the University. We are a smaller university, and even though we are well known in New England, UNH is the best-kept secret, according to Thad. It is important to expand everyone’s awareness about UNH.

Since his first week in office 11 years ago, President Kaplan was impressed with how much Henry had contributed with the growth of UNH. The first thing Thad said to Kaplan was to meet the Tagliatela family, who, at the time, was representing the School of Hospitality. Even though they owned a hotel, the Tagliatela’s felt that their name belonged to an engineering program. Henry was able to work with them to turn what was originally a $2 million gift into what became a $5.25 million gift. This started the chain reaction of gathering other donors such as the Beckerman family and Wachovia Bank to help start rebuilding the campus.

During his hiatus from UNH, Henry has overcame some challenges and has learned some strategies to bring to his other workplaces and now UNH.

“The challenge for universities is how to continue to build on its assets and featured programs to maintain and sustain the competition advantage and higher education,” Henry said.
Henry lives by the following statement.

“The incredible importance for showcasing a university in relevant ways provide a value exchange between its students, stake holders, and partners and demonstrates high impact in its educational outcomes,” he said.

Henry has left a wonderful reputation in strategic fundraising, so when the news came out that Henry would be returning, one of the university’s prestigious donors jokingly said, “Don’t bring back Thad, I can’t afford it!”

An estimate of wealth accumulated from donations from all of our alumni is 15 billion dollars total.

Thad Henry officially began his duties on Jan. 9 of this year and will be officially moved into his new office in Maxcy Hall by the end of February.