Skip to main content

Meet the Buffkin/Baker Officials Leading the Turner College's Search for a New Dean

The biggest buzz around the Turner College at the moment involves its search for a new dean. That search is being management by Buffkin/Baker, a firm that specializes in executive searches for public and private organizations. Heading up the Turner College's search from Buffkin/Baker is Martin Baker, a Managing Partner with the firm and its Head of Higher Education Practice. Baker has been in the executive search profession for 25 years and is based in Buffkin/Baker's Winston-Salem, North Carolina, office. Baker has conducted searches for the positions of Chancellor/President, Provost, CFO, CIO, Vice President, Dean, Director, and Professor, having worked on over 375 searches throughout his career. He has recently represented a number of AAU institutions, land-grant universities, faith-based institutions, liberal arts colleges, and regional universities, where he has led searches spanning most functions and academic disciplines. Baker currently serves on the Parents’ Council at Wake Forest University and on the Board of Directors of Old Town Club. He previously served on the Board of Directors of SciWorks (The Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County in Winston-Salem), both the Alumni Council and the regional selection committee for the Presidential Scholarship at Wake Forest, and the Development Committee for the Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem. He recently served on the Athletics Advisory Council at Wake Forest. Baker previously worked in the Atlanta office of Korn Ferry, where he developed search strategy and executed searches for numerous senior level appointments. He began his career working in London, England as a Research Associate with Saxton Bampfylde, an executive search and management assessment firm. Baker earned his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University.
Assisting Baker in the task of finding the next Dean of the Turner College is Dinah DeWitt. DeWitt, who joined Buffkin/Baker in 2023 and serves as an Associate with the Higher Education Practice. Her passion for higher education and recruiting was formed during her time at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where she served as a member of the Admissions and Career Management Center teams, as well as a Campus Recruiter for the Master of Accountancy program. After eight years at Vanderbilt, she continued to enhance her recruiting skillset at Ernst & Young as the Talent Management Recruiter for accounting profiles in the Southeast region within Campus Recruiting. DeWitt, who is based in Buffkin/Baker's Washington, D.C., office, earned her degree in Spanish from Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ABDC Releases 2025 Journal Review, Now Ranks Journal Edited by Phil Bryant

The long-awaited journal review being conducted by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has been released and there are a number of news items that relate to faculty in the Turner College. One of these is the ABDC's decision to now include  Compensation and Benefits Review in its journal rankings. This is big news for the Turner College as its editor, Phil Bryant , is a professor of management in the Turner College. The ABDC is proposing that the journal enter its system for the first time as a C-rated journal. Acting Turner College Dean Tesa Leonce sits on the journal's editorial board, while Turner College management professor Mark James has guest-edited an issue of the journal. Published by SAGE,  Compensation & Benefits Review is the leading journal for senior executives and professionals who design, implement, evaluate and communicate compensation and benefits policies and programs. The journal supports compensation and benefits specialists and academic ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Turner Business Chats with Kevin Hurt about Leadership Research Program

Our 5 September 2025 profile of Turner College management professor Kevin Hurt has been a popular one here at Turner Business . That blog post focused mainly on the  portfolio of leadership research that he has  steadily built up over recent years into one that is unmatched in the Turner College. We recently visited with Hurt to discuss his research endeavors. The transcript of that visit appears below. TB: ‎ Turner Business recently profiled your growing list of research publications in leadership. What would be your assessment of how your research program in leadership has gone so far? KH:  Overall, it has been a rewarding journey. I appreciate that the Turner Business profile acknowledged my work, particularly in the area of servant leadership. While journal publications are a measure of success for us as faculty, to me that success also includes building the next generation of leaders. It was the latter that inspired me to leave a Fortune 500 corporation and seek...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deborah Kidder's Tenure as Dean of the Turner College Set to End on December 12th

The Turner College community was informed this morning that Deborah Kidder 's tenure as Dean of the organization is set to end on December 12, 2025. An e-mail communication to Turner College faculty from CSU Provost & Executive Vice President Dustin Anderson states, " I am writing to share that Dr. Deborah Kidder will be stepping down as Dean of the Turner College of Business & Technology, effective December 12, 2025. Under . . . Kidder's guidance, the college achieved a number of milestones, such as maintaining our AACSB accreditation, and the establishment of a Business Transfer Articulation with Columbus Technical College. We appreciate . . . Kidder’s service and contributions to the college during her time as Dean.  In the interim, . . . Tesa Leonce-Regalado will be appointed Acting Dean to lead the college while we conduct a national search . . .  John Finley has agreed to serve as Acting Associate Dean to support our faculty and students during this time as w...
Post a Comment
Read more