Less than a year after coming aboard as the first-ever chief advancement officer (CAO) at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), Dino Hernandez has departed his post. NMC President Nick Nissley announced the news in an email sent to staff and students on Tuesday morning.

“Good morning NMC community, I want to inform you of a leadership change within the Advancement and Community Engagement (ACE) Division,” Nissley wrote in the email. “As of yesterday, Dino Hernandez is no longer with NMC. Moving forward, for matters related to the NMC Foundation, please contact Katharine Marvin.”

Marvin, who is NMC’s director of development and alumni relations, has been with the college since January 2016, when she was hired as an annual giving specialist. Marvin was promoted to her current position last October; her previous job title was director of development. The website for the NMC Foundation, the nonprofit that assists the college with fundraising and development, already lists Marvin as interim executive director.

Just last week, NMC announced Marvin as the winner of the college’s “Staff Excellence Award” for the 2024-25 academic year. Per an NMC press release announcing that honor and other staff awards, Marvin was instrumental this year in securing $1.4 million in gifts for college programs, ranging from nursing to aviation to the WNMC radio station. She was also credited as a crucial part of the college’s recruitment and onboarding efforts, reportedly sitting on six different search committees “as NMC worked to build a strong and cohesive ACE team.”

In addition to Marvin, Nissley noted in his email that Jason Slade, NMC’s vice president of strategic initiatives, would be providing “operational oversight to the ACE Division” during the interim period.

“Other transition details are currently being determined, and the campus community will be kept apprised of developments as they unfold,” Nissley concluded. “Thank you for your understanding during this period of transition.”

NMC announced Hernandez’s hire almost exactly one year ago, following a six-month national search for someone to fill the newly-created CAO position. As defined in the NMC announcement from last June, the CAO job gave Hernandez a broad range of top-level responsibilities at the college, including leadership of “all fundraising endeavors for the NMC Foundation,” as well as “oversight” over the Dennos Museum Center, the International Affairs Forum, and the WNMC radio station. The release also said that Hernandez would work alongside Diana Fairbanks, the college’s long-time PR lead, to “oversee executive administrative functions for public relations, marketing, and communications.”

A Michigan native, Hernandez came to NMC from the University of The Bahamas, where he increased giving by nearly 150 percent. Prior to that, he had served other development and fundraising roles at Oakland University, the University of Michigan-Flint, and Lawrence Technological University.

Speaking to The Ticker last August, Nissley said Hernandez’s 13-year stint at Lawrence Tech had been particularly consequential in NMC’s decision to hire him, given that Hernandez had spearheaded a campaign there that “had a goal of $75 million but ended up raising $110 million.” Nissley noted at the time that NMC had specifically looked for a CAO candidate who could help the college double the scope of its previous capital campaign, Be What’s Possible, which wrapped in 2021 with a final fundraising tally of $40.2 million.

Now, 10 months on from his August 1, 2024 start date, Hernandez is out. The news comes just a month after NMC’s Board of Trustees approved a $60,000 feasibility study to “test the internal and external readiness for a proposed $50M-$75M Comprehensive Campaign with a stretch goal of $100M.” That campaign is tentatively slated to kick into high gear in 2026, as NMC celebrates its 75th anniversary; Hernandez was set to be the key player in its execution.

Nissley was publicly praising Hernandez as recently as the college's April board meeting, where he announced that the CAO had already shattered the NMC Foundation’s fundraising target for the year.

“There was a goal this past year, of $2.4 million being raised by the foundation,” Nissley said at the April 28 meeting. “Dino broke that not even halfway through the year. He came back with a stretch goal, broke that within two months. And we’re now up over $4.1 million [in funds raised this year].”

When asked for more details about the split, NMC Communications Director Cari Noga tells The Ticker via written email statement that she “can’t comment” on the reasons for Hernandez’s departure due to “NMC policy on personnel matters.”

“However, I can say that NMC has immediately moved forward under the interim executive director leadership of Katharine Marvin, director of development and alumni relations,” Noga adds. “We will be determining subsequent steps in the transition to the next permanent leader in the coming weeks. The NMC Foundation has a strong team with decades of combined experience, including the last successful Be What’s Possible campaign. This moment is a continuation of that long, trusted legacy. We also have a deeply committed Foundation Board providing guidance and support.”

Regarding questions about Hernandez's contract and whether his early departure could necessitate any sort of buy-out or lump sum payment, NMC declined to provide details without a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Ticker plans on filing such a request in the coming days.

“Since it involves a personnel matter, we handle contract requests through FOIA process as HR standard practice,” Fairbanks says.

Hernandez could not be reached for comment.

Pictured: Hernandez (left) and Marvin (right)