Sally Zeckhauser, Vice President for Administration, has announced the appointment of Ted Mayer as director of Dining Services, effective June 1. Mayer, who has served Middlebury College in a similar capacity for nearly a decade, has spent much of his career managing food service operations for academic institutions where students are the primary customers.

"Those of us on the search committee were immediately impressed by the breadth of Ted's professional experience, his business skills, and his concern for students," said Zeckhauser. "With his focus and maturity and his extensive experience in both food services and management, I am confident that Ted can provide the vision and leadership needed to maintain the high quality of our Dining Services organization."

Said Dean of Harvard College Harry R. Lewis, "I am thrilled that Ted Mayer will be joining Harvard as director of Dining Services. He has done a wonderful job at Middlebury -- we received very positive reports on the quality of food and the responsiveness of the food services operation Ted has built. I am very pleased that he will be bringing his inventiveness and quality consciousness to our residential system, of which dining is such an integral part."

Mayer studied business management at City College of New York and graduated from the Boston School of Cookery with a degree in Culinary Arts. Before his stint as director of Dining Services at Middlebury, Mayer worked for the Seiler Corp., a private vendor that operates dining services on many campuses. While with Seiler he served as director of Dining Services at Westfield State College and Colby College, and became district manager of all of Seiler's New England operations in 1986.

While at Middlebury, Mayer led the development of a campus card to provide access to dining and other services; stressed communication and the professional development of staff; and improved accounting and reporting policies. As a member of Middlebury's Senior Staff, he served on standing committees, including the Environmental Council and the HIV Task Force.

At Harvard, Mayer will oversee a $32 million budget and the preparation of 25,000 meals a day in 12 undergraduate and 2 graduate dining halls; 8 campus restaurants; 2 catering operations; a kosher program; and patient food services for University Health Services. During Commencement and Reunion Week alone, Dining Services caters some 100,000 meals.

Zeckhauser thanked the search committee and members of the dining services staff who participated in various stages of the rigorous national search. "I most especially want to thank Lenny Condenzio for his leadership as interim director of Harvard Dining Services. The department could not have maintained its reputation for excellence without him."