{"id":1557,"date":"2013-05-14T11:17:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T15:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=1557"},"modified":"2014-01-10T10:19:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T15:19:44","slug":"man-in-black-kept-emu-in-the-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2013\/05\/14\/man-in-black-kept-emu-in-the-black\/","title":{"rendered":"Man in Black Kept EMU in the Black"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"RonMild-mannered Ron Piper\u00a0is still remembered for a bold fashion statement he made 20 years ago. As EMU\u2019s vice president for finance, he was getting ready to report to the board of trustees on the university\u2019s budget. Typically his report was scheduled right before lunch. He never had much time.<\/p>\n

This time he was ready with a dramatic testament to the state of the budget. Piper stood up and said quietly, \u201cI chose my wardrobe carefully today \u2013 and this says it all.\u201d He then sat down. Piper was wearing a black suit, black shirt, and black tie. It took several seconds for board members to realize that EMU\u2019s finances were safely in the black.<\/p>\n

For 24 years, Piper\u2019s primary job was to balance \u2013 or at least try to balance \u2013 EMU\u2019s budget. He retired in 2010, succeeded by Daryl Bert \u201897<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Piper arrived on campus in 1986 at a low point in the school\u2019s history. The Administration Building had been destroyed by fire, the finances were shaky and the enrollment had dropped to a full-time-equivalent of 747. (\u201cI still remember that number,\u201d Piper said.) His temporary office was above the kitchen in Northlawn.<\/p>\n

President Richard Detweiler \u201949<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0commented that he was presiding over \u201ca time of austerity.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But two weeks later the gleaming new Campus Center opened on the site of the former Ad Building \u2013 \u201cand it was onward and upward after that,\u201d said Piper.<\/p>\n

The enrollment started going up again. The budget grew from $7 million to $29 million by the time Piper retired. And soon the board of trustees elected Joe Lapp \u201866<\/strong> as its visionary new president.<\/p>\n

Piper vividly remembers his $20,000 shopping trip in 1987 to buy EMU\u2019s first personal computers and printers. He put them in the back of his car and delivered them to four different offices on campus.<\/p>\n

A few years later he proudly reported to the board that telephones had been installed in every dormitory room. It wasn\u2019t long, though, until most students had their own cell phones and the land-line phones were removed.<\/p>\n

Piper, a certified public accountant, came to EMU after 11 years with a Big Eight CPA firm in Denver and New York City, three years at a mining and manufacturing company in Colorado, and five years with Mennonite Board of Missions in Elkhart, Ind. A native of Iowa, his undergraduate degree \u2013 in accounting \u2013 was from the University of Iowa.<\/p>\n

While Piper was at EMU for 24 years, his wife Myrna worked in the development office at Eastern Mennonite High School for 24 years. Daughter Jenni Piper \u201992<\/strong> is now an associate director of information systems at EMU. Son Mike Piper \u201995<\/strong> is the controller at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.<\/p>\n

In retirement, Piper, now 69, is frequently called on to help local organizations with their finances. They include Park View Federal Credit Union, Our Community Place, Eastern Mennonite School, the Auxiliary of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, Lezha Academic Center in Albania, and his church \u2013 Zion Mennonite.<\/p>\n

The man in black is still balancing budgets \u2013 or trying to. And he still likes to wear black.\u00a0 \u2014 Steve Shenk ’73<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mild-mannered Ron Piper\u00a0is still remembered for a bold fashion statement he made 20 years ago. As EMU\u2019s vice president for finance, he was getting ready to report to the board of trustees on the university\u2019s budget. Typically his report was scheduled right before lunch. He never had much time. This time he was ready with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":1558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[300,357,358,356,355],"class_list":["post-1557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-daryl-bert","tag-jenni-piper","tag-mike-piper","tag-richard-detweiler","tag-ron-piper","issues-spring-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}