First Choice for HDS Director Turns Job Down

After the top candidate turned down the University's offer, the five-month-old search for a director of Harvard Dining Services (HDS) has been suspended until next semester.

Although the search committee had hoped to appoint a new director by the beginning of this academic year, the leading candidate, whom University officials refused to identify, turned down Harvard's offer last month, Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser said in a statement Wednesday.

Leonard D. Condenzio, the acting HDS director since Michael P. Berry left Harvard in April, will keep his position through the fall term, Zeckhauser said.

Candidates and search committee members refused to comment on which candidate was now out of the running.

"I'm disappointed that we could not complete the process as quickly as we had hoped and that we must keep the other finalists--all of whom are strong contenders--waiting. However, Dean [Harry R. Lewis '68] and I agree that this appointment is too important to handle in other than a deliberate and thorough way," Zeckhauser said. Condenzio, who previously served as associate director of residential dining operations and who has been at Harvard since 1991, declined to comment, as did Lewis.

A short list of candidates reportedly in the running this summer included Condenzio; Shirley Everett, manager of dining services at Stanford University; Frank X. Gladu, dining services head at Vanderbilt University; Ted Mayer, dining services director at Middlebury College; and John Lewis, director of the University of Maine's dining services.

Gladu and Mayer each denied he had been offered the job.

"I am still a candidate," Mayer said.

According to Mayer, the committee's decision to keep Condenzio on as interim director while the search is on hold may be an implicit vote to give Condenzio the position.

"I don't know where he stands in the ranking," Mayer said. "He certainly has an opportunity that he could and should take advantage of in terms of this position."

Berry, heralded after his arrival at Harvard five years ago as the "Mealtime Messiah," led HDS to several awards for food service quality. Berry himself won the prestigious Silver Plate Award for his management.

He now oversees food operations for the Walt Disney Company's Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, Calif.