Vice chancellor Karol Gray to leave UNC in October

Karol Kain Gray, vice chancellor for finance and administration, announced Thursday that she will resign from the University this fall.

Gray, who has worked for UNC since December 2011, is one of several top administrators to leave the University in the past year, part of a broader trend of senior leadership changes.

“I’m leaving an amazing place, hopefully to enter into another amazing opportunity,” Gray said in an interview.

Beginning in October, Gray will work as the chief financial officer for Applied DNA Sciences Inc. in New York. Gray, who is from Long Island, said she is returning to New York for family reasons. She said the company’s CEO, a long-time friend, approached her with the job offer.

“I did not look for this,” she said. “This came to me.”

Gray said she will work with Chancellor Carol Folt to choose an interim vice chancellor before she leaves. Next week they will start vetting candidates for the interim position, but she said there has not yet been talk of a search committee for the permanent position.

Gray’s leadership style emphasizes team-building, said Gordon Merklein, executive director of real estate development.

Merklein, who is one of 2,044 employees overseen by Gray, said she elevated the importance of her department in the University. In her role, Gray manages UNC’s $3.9 billion operating budget.

“What Karol really brought to the University was that she really reorganized finance and administration into a really cohesive group and a team,” he said. “She really brought all the pieces together.”

Gray said leading the department is like building a family.

“I think it’s important that the successor recognize that every person from the bottom of the organization to the top are important,” she said.

James Holman, a UNC housekeeper and chairman of the personnel issues committee of the Employee Forum, said Gray impressed him from the very beginning.

“She is a blessing to the Employee Forum and to the housekeeping department, period,” he said. “She listened to what we had to say, and she acted on it.”

Holman said Gray communicates with him on a regular basis about the needs of the housekeeping staff. Gray said her biggest accomplishments include the implementation of a new online platform for the 44-year-old payroll system and improving the department’s efficiency.

“I think we’ve set the right course for many things,” Gray said. “I like to say that when I came in I had a lot of spaghetti, and I’ve untangled a lot of spaghetti.”

Merklein said Gray also excelled in prioritizing projects and balancing budget cuts.

“She wants what’s best for the University and she wants what’s best for the individual,” he said. “Personally I’m very happy for her, and selfishly I’m sad to lose her.”

Gray said her love for her staff and UNC made her decision to leave bittersweet.

“I decided to accept the offer with half a heart,” she said.

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