Ex-College Crusade chief appointed interim president of JWU Charlotte campus

PROVIDENCE – Todd D. Flaherty, former president and CEO of the College Crusade of Rhode Island, has been appointed interim president of the Charlotte campus of Johnson & Wales University in North Carolina.

He will start Aug. 12.

JWU said it will now begin a national search for a permanent replacement for former Charlotte campus President Tarun Malik, who’s last day on the job was Thursday.

“The university chose … Flaherty to lead the Charlotte campus for the next academic year because of his distinguished career in education,” JWU Chancellor Mim L. Runey said in a news release. “On a local and state level in Rhode Island, he has been a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent and a longtime deputy commissioner in the R.I. State Department of Education. On a national level, he served as a deputy in residence for the Council of Chief State School Officers and a senior policy consultant for the National High School Center in Washington, D.C.”

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In 2009, Flaherty was appointed president and CEO of the College Crusade of Rhode Island, a college-readiness and scholarship program for middle school and high school students in urban school districts.

Flaherty retired from the College Crusade in June 2016.

Flaherty’s career has taken him to North Carolina before. He served as principal of the James B. Hunt High School in Wilson, N.C., from July 1988 to June 1990, according to JWU. During his tenure there, the high school was recognized by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for its exemplary at-risk student and dropout prevention programs, JWU said.

“I look forward to returning to North Carolina to oversee the vibrant JWU Charlotte campus,” Flaherty said in a JWU news release. “I am excited to meet the students, faculty and staff and to represent Johnson & Wales in the Charlotte community.”