Leslie Moore ’77 P’19 named Vice President for Human Resources
St. Olaf College President David R. Anderson ’74 has announced the appointment of Leslie Moore ’77 P’19 as the college’s vice president for human resources.
Moore, who came to St. Olaf in 2015 to serve as the director of the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, has nearly four decades of diverse experience in law, higher education, and operational management. She will assume her role as vice president for human resources on June 1.
“Many members of the St. Olaf community know Leslie from her work as director of the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, where her visionary leadership has expanded the Piper Center’s programs and thus opened new possibilities post-graduation for our students,” Anderson says. “Leslie brings a wide range of relevant experience to the role of vice president for human resources, and I am delighted to welcome her to this new position and to the President’s Leadership Team.”
“I am excited by the opportunities offered by this role,” Moore says. “I deeply value the relationships that I have with many colleagues on the faculty and staff, and it will be a privilege to serve such a thoughtful, dedicated, and hard-working community.”
Moore earned a B.A. from St. Olaf, a Ph.D. from Yale University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She was a member of the faculty at Yale University, where she co-directed its writing programs and taught 17th and 18th century British literature and nonfiction. She also served on advisory councils guiding Yale admissions and multicultural student and faculty welfare.
Moore then began a career in law, starting as a litigator and trial lawyer in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Later, as regional legal counsel for Deloitte Consulting, she established its first legal office in the Asia-Pacific region. As a partner and general counsel for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Australia, she held roles in corporate governance, business ethics and risk management, professional development and training, stakeholder and community relations, and gender and cultural diversity.
Before accepting the role as director of the Piper Center, Moore served as general counsel and director of operations for White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, Australia, which hosts the largest private collection of Chinese contemporary art in the world.
“I am the grateful beneficiary of a superb liberal arts education, which enabled me to pursue a varied — and often unexpected — career,” Moore says. “As a young faculty member at Yale, I became involved in the writing program, which gave me my first administrative experience, leading 30 adjunct faculty. It was in this role that I discovered how much I love to work with and lead teams. Collaborating with talented colleagues and supporting their growth as innovators and leaders have been two of the great pleasures in my life. To serve the college in this role brings me back to the beginning of my career — I have come full circle. I have been thinking of T. S. Eliot’s words in The Four Quartets: ‘And the end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time.'”
As director of the Piper Center, Moore and her team have propelled St. Olaf to be a national leader among highly selective liberal arts colleges in preparing students for life after graduation and alumni for meaningful work throughout their career. She supported the development of strong career programming in entrepreneurship, including starting the St. Olaf Entrepreneurial Scholars Program and co-developing a Maker Space. She oversaw a 70 percent growth in funding for internships and developed a more transparent and more equitable program for internship funding.
She has partnered with offices across campus to broaden opportunities and support for students. She co-created, with Center for Academic Advising and Support (CAAS) Director Kathy Glampe, a series of workshops for all first-year students to level the playing field and to prepare them for academic, social, emotional, spiritual, and career success. She also worked with partners in CAAS, Residence Life, and Student Affairs to co-create the Sophomore Challenge, which aims to promote academic success, co-curricular engagement, and career development for sophomores. Moore partnered with the Taylor Center for Equity and Inclusion to deliver events and programming focused on identity and career, including addressing the challenges faced by international students matriculating in the United States.
“I look forward to joining the current team in Human Resources, drawing on their expertise and experience, and reflecting with them on the challenges and opportunities before us,” Moore says. “The workplace has undergone significant change during COVID-19. I am excited to harness that change — with colleagues across the campus — to co-create a supportive and nourishing environment for our faculty, staff, and student employees.”