Kyle Cavanaugh to Head Human Resources at Duke

Kyle Cavanaugh, a nationally recognized human resources expert who has overseen HR programs for several leading private and public universities, will become vice president for human resources at Duke University on Feb. 1, 2009, Tallman Trask III, Duke's executive vice president, announced Wednesday.

Cavanaugh, 50, was selected in a national search. He will oversee staffing and labor relations, benefits and workers compensation, talent management, compensation, health and safety, and human resources information for a workforce of more than 30,000 employees.

He succeeds Clint Davidson, who is retiring after leading Duke's human resource programs for 11 years.

Cavanaugh comes to Duke from the University of Florida, where he started in 2005 as vice president for human resources and, in 2007, was promoted to senior vice president for administration, overseeing a range of business, financial and operational activities.

"Kyle has impressed everyone he's worked with and will bring a strong record of accomplishment in HR and other business areas," Trask said. "He understands how deeply a university depends on its employees to achieve its critical missions of teaching, research, patient care and service to society."

Cavanaugh will lead an HR staff of about 130 people and work with the HR team for the Duke University Health System. With a variety of family-friendly and cultural benefits, Duke has been cited regularly as a "best place to work" by publications and organizations that range from the Chronicle of Higher Education to Carolina Parent. A list of recent accolades is online here.

"I am excited to join the leadership team at Duke and to serve the outstanding faculty and staff in support of the institution's mission," Cavanaugh said. "The human resource function plays a critical role in enabling everyone across the campus to achieve that mission, and I am looking forward to building upon an outstanding foundation."

Prior to joining the University of Florida in 2005, Cavanaugh was associate vice president for human resource services for five years at The University of Texas at Austin, where he led all HR activities and had oversight of the campus police, environmental health and safety, and parking and transportation services.

Previously, he was the chief human resources officer at Rice University and held senior HR positions at Vanderbilt University. While in Nashville, he also helped develop and teach courses in human resource management and worksite health promotion at Belmont University. Before entering the higher education field, he developed a variety of health promotion services during five years with AT&T.

Cavanaugh has served as a consultant on HR and other issues for numerous universities and other organizations. He has taught and given guest lectures at Vanderbilt, Texas, Belmont and Florida on topics ranging from human resources to worksite health promotion. He also is active in national organizations dealing with HR and higher education issues.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Cavanaugh holds three master's degrees -- in business administration from Belmont, in health promotion and exercise science from Vanderbilt and in special education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his bachelor's degree in special, elementary and early childhood education from Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn.

His wife Christie Cavanaugh holds a faculty position in early childhood education at Florida. They have two daughters.