The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Earned Media Coverage - Leadership Transition

February 7, 2014

“Colin Campbell to retire as Colonial Williamsburg president: Committee named to search for Colonial Williamsburg president’s successor”

By: Steve Vaughan

1/30/14

WILLIAMSBURG — Colonial Williamsburg announced Thursday that it was beginning a search for a successor to president Colin Campbell, who has led the foundation since 2000.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Campbell, 78, said he only expected to stay five years when he took the job.

He remained another six years after the first time the foundation announced it was going to look for a successor. Campbell stepped down as chairman of the Board of Trustees in 2008 and a search for his replacement was begun, but quickly ended when the board asked him to stay on to helm Colonial Williamsburg through the tough economic times that began that year.

Campbell said he's ready now.

"Nancy and I just decided that it's time. We want to spend more time with the grandchildren," he said." Well this isn't exactly the time, the time will be at the end of the search process, which might take a while."

http://www.dailypress.com/news/va-vg-campbellleaving-0102-20140130,0,4281550.story

Campbell was something of an insider when tapped in 2000. He joined the Colonial Williamsburg's Board of Trustees in 1989, and had been its chairman for two years when he took over day-to-day operations. He said he doesn't expect that will happen this time.

"I expect it will be an outsider, which is something that lengthens the selection process," Campbell said. "I was chosen at the end of a lengthy selection process, in which I was not a candidate. I don't know of any candidates on the board now."

Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees and chairman, president and chief executive of Dominion Resources in Richmond, chairs the succession committee. The other members include trustees Pamela Flaherty of New York; Steven Miller of Houston; Cynthia Milligan of Lincoln, Neb.; Andrea Mitchell of Washington, D.C.; Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City; Barbara Oberg of Princeton, N.J.; and Henry Wolf of Virginia Beach.

The executive recruiting firm Storbeck/Pimentel has been retained by the succession committee.

Although he modestly declined to name his greatest achievement while at the foundation, Campbell did talk with pride of several developments at Colonial Williamsburg during his tenure.

Among them was a $500 million capital fundraising campaign that was completed in 2006. It served to swell the foundation's endowment and to fund improvements in the Historic Area.

At around the same time the Williamsburg Lodge and Williamsburg Inn underwent extensive renovations to get them ready for 2007 and the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The event which gave the area its last spike in tourism attendance.

"More to Jamestown than to us, but our hotels did well," Campbell said.

He said that was one of his favorite times in Williamsburg, although what he remembered about it wasn't meeting Queen Elizabeth II or President George W. Bush.

"There was a feeling of collaboration that had been missing in the past," he said. "Unfortunately, the Great Recession dictated that we couldn't completely continue that collaboration.'

The Historic Triangle Collaborative, of which Campbell has been an active member, is a legacy of that time.

The greatest change at Colonial Williamsburg during Campbell's time was the creation of "Revolutionary City," the living history, interactive theater program in the Historic Area.

"It's certainly been the biggest programmatic change," Campbell said Thursday. "It's become the core of what Colonial Williamsburg is."

And he said that will continue.

"We're doing more with it this year, putting interpreters in the shops and taverns as well as in the streets, so visitors have the feeling 'this is a historic community and I'm a part of it,'" he said.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/va-vg-campbellleaving-0102-20140130,0,4281550.story

The Daily Press interviews Mr. Campbell regarding the leadership succession plan and 2013 Colonial Williamsburg Foundation results.

http://www.dailypress.com/videogallery/79106582/Video-Colonial-Williamsburg-s-Colin-Campbell

Notes and notables

A weekly roundup of short opinions offered by the Daily Press Editorial Board

2/7/14

Bringing the past up to date

Last week, Colin Campbell announced his plans to retire as president of Colonial Williamsburg — a position he accepted in 2000 and figured he would keep for about five years. He stayed considerably longer because there was the sense that Colonial Williamsburg needed him.

These are difficult times for historic tourism sites. Mainstream interest in these destinations has been on the decline for a few decades, and that trend is exaggerated when the economy goes south. Cuts in the budgets of local school districts — and therefore fewer busloads of kids coming for field trips — just rub salt into the financial wounds.

Mr. Campbell's tenure also saw the introduction of the Revolutionary City, as well as the success of the 2007 celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Jamestown. In recent years, the historic site has moved to embrace modern technology — promotion on social media, a web-based high school curriculum, and interactive role-playing game.

Mr. Campbell will stay in his position until the board can find a replacement. Whoever that person turns out to be, he or she will have to work hard to match the creativity and ambition that Mr. Campbell has shown in his 14 years at Colonial Williamsburg.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-edt-notes-notables-0207-20140206,0,1602665.story

And, encouragingly for an attraction that has struggled to draw younger visitors, Colonial Williamsburg said that 43,000 guests participated in 2013 in its interactive spy game, "RevQuest: the Black Chambers." That was a 16 percent increase from 2012.

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/01/colonial-williamsburg-president-retiring

“Colonial Williamsburg president is retiring”

By: Dave Mayfield

1/31/14

Colonial Williamsburg's longtime president and CEO says he's retiring - and this time he means it.

Colin Campbell, who has steered the foundation that operates the historical attraction since 2000 (and who was its volunteer chairman for two years before that), will exit after a search for his successor is completed, the foundation said Thursday.

Campbell, 78, had announced in 2008 that he was retiring, but he stayed on to lead Colonial Williamsburg through the recession.

"Colin has led us into the 21st century and has requested that this succession process be initiated at this time, while emphasizing his full and ongoing commitment... through completion of the process and a reasonable transition period," the foundation's chairman, Thomas F. Farrell II, said in a statement. Farrell is CEO of Richmond-based Dominion Resources.

Campbell, who has a law degree from Columbia University, is a former president of Wesleyan University and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The fund was created by the children of John D. Rockefeller Jr., whose gifts launched Colonial Williamsburg's restoration.

Under Campbell's watch, the historical site has suffered declining attendance but expanded its educational and arts programs and dramatically increased its endowment.

Colonial Williamsburg said Thursday that it ended 2013 with an endowment of $780 million, up $45 million from a year earlier. It reported paid attendance of 651,000 last year, a 0.5 percent decline, but it said higher prices pushed up ticket revenue by 2 percent.

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/01/colonial-williamsburg-president-retiring

Editorial: Colin Campbell’s Legacy

2/4/14

Only time will judge the impact Colin Campbell had on Colonial Williamsburgduring his 14-year run as president.

Campbell announced last Friday he plans to step down once a search committee of foundation trustees is able to find a successor. That may not lead to a speedy exit, given the year it took between Bob Wilburn's departure in 1999 and the hiring of Campbell, who never sought the job.

Given a protracted decline in visitation – it's fallen by nearly 50 percent over the past 25 years – some might be tempted to view Campbell's tenure less than positively. But the problem of declining visitation is not unique to Williamsburg. A similar story is playing out in historical tourism sites around the country, with only an occasional success.

The Washington Post wrote about the decline in late 2012, placing the peak of interest in U.S. history during 1976 when America celebrated its 200th birthday. Monticello took in 671,000 visitors that year. By 2011 the figure had fallen by one-third to 440,000. The drop-off was even steeper for Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Almost 80,000 people visited in 1976. In 2011 attendance had declined by two-thirds, to 27,000.

1976 was a disappointing year for Colonial Williamsburg despite the hoopla of the Bicentennial.President Gerald Ford spoke at the ceremonial session of the Virginia General Assembly held at the Capitol. Presidential candidate Jimmy Carterwas here for a debate, and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt paid a visit.

Yet the foundation finished the year nearly $700,000 in the red, with admissions revenue far below expectations. In CW's annual report for 1976 no attendance figure is listed, although the 1977 report notes attendance exceeded 1 million in four of the previous five years.

Colonial Williamsburg hit its peak in 1988, reaching 1.2 million paid visitors. By 1991 attendance dropped below 1 million, a plateau the foundation hasn't seen since.

There's more to judge Campbell by than attendance. What he brought to Colonial Williamsburg is a growing donor base, renovation and innovation, embracing technology, and a rebranding of the Historic Area that, while initially criticized as theatrics, has taken root.

Here are a handful of the tangible items on which we can judge Campbell's career, culled from 13 years of annual reports and Gazette archives

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-editorial-0205-20140204,0,45675.story

In 2000, a $100 million, multi-year project of construction and renovation at the Visitor Center, Williamsburg Inn and Williamsburg Woodlands.

Held a Labor Day weekend promotion offering free tickets to active and former military personnel and their families, and to first responders. Admissions for the three-day weekend nearly doubled.

Traffic to Colonial Williamsburg's five websites topped 9.3 million in 2004.

Schools in California adopt Colonial Williamsburg's history and social studies curriculum in 2005.

"Revolutionary City" debuts in 2006, coordinating interpretation and theatre to depict life in 1774 Williamsburg.

That same year the renovated Williamsburg Lodge opens, completing a $220 million, multi-year investment in renovations.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Colonial Williamsburg in 2007, 50 years after her first visit.

A web-based, fully interactive high school curriculum was launched in 2010.

An interactive game called RevQuest debuted in 2011, with participants beginning their journey online, and completing in a visit to the Historic Area. More than 10,000 guests played.

Not every Campbell initiative was lauded. During the recession nearly 300 jobs were cut, salaries frozen and employees forced to take furlough days. Executives also took pay cuts.

Attempts to expand closures of Duke of Gloucester met with resistance, and after approving one expansion, Williamsburg City Council rejected a second request.

The difficulty of reconciling 18th century Virginia with 21st century America is tough job. But under Campbell's tutelage, Colonial Williamsburg has meld the two about as well as can be hoped. For that guidance, during increasingly difficult times, we can be grateful.

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-editorial-0205-20140204,0,45675.story

“Timeline: Key moments in Colin Campbell’s tenure at Colonial Williamsburg”

1/30/14

2000

•Following a nationwide search for a successor to Robert Wilburn, Colonial Williamsburg's Board ofTrustees instead votes to have chairman Colin Campbell assume the presidency of the foundation. He succeeds acting president Rick Nahm.

•During the year the foundation embarks on a $100 million, multi-year project of construction andrenovation at the Visitor Center, the Williamsburg Inn and the Williamsburg Woodlands.

•Preservation work begins on several Historic Area properties, among them King's Arms and MarketSquare taverns, the Golden Ball, and the clubhouse at the Golden Horseshoe Green Course.

•Market value of the foundation's endowment and the DeWitt Wallace Fund for Colonial Williamsburggrew by $46.9 million to a total of $775.3 million.

2001

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbell-timeline-0130-20140130,0,5073748.story

•A shift in ticket structure led to an uptick in annual pass sales. The result was nearly $1 million in additional admission revenue, a 4 percent increase over 2000.

•Held a Labor Day weekend promotion offering free tickets to active and former military personnel and their families, and to first responders. Admissions for the three-day weekend nearly doubled over 2000 and hotels were nearly full.

•A revenue shortfall of $9.4 million was blamed on a slowing economy and on the September 11 attacks.

2002

•The foundation topped 100,000 individual donors for the first time, and donations reached a record $11.6 million.

•The operating deficit grew to $35.7 million, an increase of more than 20 percent. The report called the level of deficit "clearly unacceptable." The endowment also lost more than $100 million.

•Milestones in Colonial Williamsburg's 75th year included a footbrige from the Visitor Center to the Historic Area. It was dubbed the "Bridge to the Past."

•"The Story of a Patriot," Colonial Williamsburg's 35-minute introductory film, was viewed for the 30 millionth time.

2003

•In an effort to unify a complex operation, Colonial Williamsburg launched the One Foundation initiative, which Campbell called "the motivating phrase of a campaign to, in our diversity, to act as the single organization we are."

•Admissions fell 9 percent from 2002, blamed on national trends of less travel while war raged in Iraq, and on Hurricane Isabel in September.

•Design work began on renovation and restoration of the Williamsburg Lodge, which opened in 1939.

2004

•Electronic field trips reached 200 new schools nationwide, broadcasting three new productions.

•Traffic to Colonial Williamsburg's five websites topped 9.3 million.

•Renovation of the Williamsburg Lodge begins, with a target for completion in 2006.

•Yet another record for annual giving, with more than $40 million.

2005

•Schools in California adopt Colonial Williamsburg's history and social studies curriculum.

•The Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg reaches $492 million, close to its $500 million goal.

•Ticket sales improved slightly to 710,450.

2006

•"Revolutionary City" debuts, coordinating interpretation and theatre to depict life in 1774 Williamsburg.

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbell-timeline-0130-20140130,0,5073748.story

•The newly renovated Williamsburg Lodge opens, completing a $220 million, multi-year investment in renovations at several Colonial Williamsburg properties.

•Tim Kaine used Williamsburg as the backdrop for his inauguration as governor. Only two previous Virginia governors took the oath at the Capitol: Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.

2007

•Queen Elizabeth II visited Colonial Williamsburg for the first time in 50 years, coming to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown.

•The foundation hosted a three-day World Forum on the Future of Democracy, with a keynote address from retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

•Multiple scenes for HBO's miniseries "John Adams" were filmed in Colonial Williamsburg.

2008

•Colonial Williamsburg' Fifes and Drums celebrated 50 years of performances.

•Revolutionary City expands with a program geared to children called "Get Revved!"

•Campbell and his wife, Nancy, receive the Prentis Award from the College of William and Mary.

2009

•Paid attendance fell 9 percent to 707,000.

•Warehouse and call center for Colonial Williamsburg's products operation were outsourced.

•In the depths of the recession the endowment lost $209 million.

•The foundation cut 140 jobs, and eliminated 140 others currently vacant. Salaries were frozen, and salaried employee were required to take seven furloughed days.

2010

•The $5 million R. Charlton Coffeehouse opens. Construction was funded by a gift from candy magnate Forest Mars.

•A web-based, fully interactive high school curriculum was launched.

•Paid admissions fell another 7 percent to 660,000.

2011

•An interactive game called RevQuest debuts, with participants beginning their journey online, and completing in a visit to the Historic Area. More than 10,000 guests played.

•Colonial Williamsburg begins to re-brand itself as a "center for history, citizenship and democracy."

•Paid attendance continued to decline, falling to 670,500.

2012 •Colonial Williamsburg expanded on its citizenship theme with the first Williamsburg-CSIS Forum. The foundation partnered with Washington think tank Center for Strategic and international Studies.

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbell-timeline-0130-20140130,0,5073748.story

•Re-tooled “Revolutionary City” into a single-day experience. The previous version alternated days,making it confusing for visitors only here for one day.

•Donor support grows by 59 percent.

2013 •Won approval from Williamsburg City Council to close two additional blocks of Duke of Gloucester for“Revolutionary City.” An attempt to expand even more was voted down.

•Launched a new speakers series. First up was Pulitzer Price-winning author Jon Meacham, followed byjournalist Arianna Huffington.

•Opened the Public Armoury in the Historic Area, a new exhibition building also funded by the Marsfamily.

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbell-timeline-0130-20140130,0,5073748.story

“Colonial Williamsburg President to Step Down; Search for Replacement Begins”

By WYDaily Staff

1/31/14

Colin Campbell is planning to leave his post as president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation after more than 13 years.

Campbell’s intent to retire and details for a search process to find his replacement were announced Thursday. A succession committee — chaired by Thomas Farrell II, CEO of Dominion Resources and chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees — has been formed. The committee hired the executive search firm Storbeck/Pimentel to aid in hiring a new president and CEO for the foundation.

The committee is committed to finding a replacement that “best serves the interests and standards of the institution” and has not set a date for hiring a replacement, Farrell said in a release.

“Colonial Williamsburg has been extraordinarily fortunate to have been led by Colin Campbell since August 2000, a period of time marked by substantial challenges and addressed with great energy, creativity, and focus,” Farrell said. “Colin has led us into the 21st century and has requested that this succession process be initiated at this time, while emphasizing his full and ongoing commitment to the

http://wydaily.com/2014/01/31/colonial-williamsburg-president-to-step-down-search-for-replacement-begins/

leadership and management of the Foundation through completion of the process and a reasonable transition period.”

Campbell commented he is looking forward to continuing his work while supporting the committee and Board of Trustees “in the critical work of leadership transition.”

The search committee comprises:

• Committee Chairman Thomas Farrell II, chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees andCEO of Dominion Resources, Richmond

• Trustee Pamela Flaherty, New York• Trustee Steven Miller, Houston• Trustee Cynthia Milligan, Lincoln, Neb.• Trustee Andrea Mitchell, Washington, D.C.• Trustee state Sen. Thomas Norment, Williamsburg• Trustee Barbara Oberg, Princeton, N.J.• Trustee Henry Wolf, Virginia Beach

http://wydaily.com/2014/01/31/colonial-williamsburg-president-to-step-down-search-for-replacement-begins/

“Campbell preparing to leave Colonial Williamsburg”

1/30/14

WILLIAMSBURG - The Colin Campbell era at Colonial Williamsburg is apparently drawing to a close.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announced Tuesday that a management succession process, including the appointment of a succession committee and engagement of an executive search firm, has been initiated to effect an orderly transition of chief executive leadership.

Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees and chairman, president and chief executive of Dominion Resources in Richmond, Va., chairs the succession committee.

“Succession is a primary focus for any well-managed organization and a leading responsibility of the Board of Trustees,” said Farrell. “Colonial Williamsburg has been extraordinarily fortunate to have been led by Colin Campbell since August 2000, a period of time marked by substantial challenges and addressed with great energy, creativity, and focus. There will be an appropriate time in the future to comment on Colin’s numerous contributions to the history of this venerable organization, but ‘reinvention’ is certainly one descriptor of his tenure. Colin has led us into the 21st century and has requested that this succession process be initiated at this time, while emphasizing his full and ongoing commitment to the leadership and management of the Foundation through completion of the process and a reasonable transition period.”

http://www.dailypress.com/news/va-vg-campbell-preparing-to-leave-colonial-williamsburg-20140130,0,6323460.story

“Colin Campbell to retire as Colonial Williamsburg president: Committee named to search for Colonial Williamsburg president’s successor”

By: Steve Vaughan

1/30/14

WILLIAMSBURG — Colonial Williamsburg announced Thursday that it was beginning a search for a successor to president Colin Campbell, who has led the foundation since 2000.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Campbell, 78, said he only expected to stay five years when he took the job.

He remained another six years after the first time the foundation announced it was going to look for a successor. Campbell stepped down as chairman of the Board of Trustees in 2008 and a search for his replacement was begun, but quickly ended when the board asked him to stay on to helm Colonial Williamsburg through the tough economic times that began that year.

Campbell said he's ready now.

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbellleaving-0102-20140130,0,4155076.story

"Nancy and I just decided that it's time. We want to spend more time with the grandchildren," he said." Well this isn't exactly the time, the time will be at the end of the search process, which might take a while."

Campbell was something of an insider when tapped in 2000. He joined the Colonial Williamsburg's Board of Trustees in 1989, and had been its chairman for two years when he took over day-to-day operations. He said he doesn't expect that will happen this time.

"I expect it will be an outsider, which is something that lengthens the selection process," Campbell said. "I was chosen at the end of a lengthy selection process, in which I was not a candidate. I don't know of any candidates on the board now."

Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees and chairman, president and chief executive of Dominion Resources in Richmond, chairs the succession committee. The other members include trustees Pamela Flaherty of New York; Steven Miller of Houston; Cynthia Milligan of Lincoln, Neb.; Andrea Mitchell of Washington, D.C.; Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City; Barbara Oberg of Princeton, N.J.; and Henry Wolf of Virginia Beach.

The executive recruiting firm Storbeck/Pimentel has been retained by the succession committee.

Although he modestly declined to name his greatest achievement while at the foundation, Campbell did talk with pride of several developments at Colonial Williamsburg during his tenure.

Among them was a $500 million capital fundraising campaign that was completed in 2006. It served to swell the foundation's endowment and to fund improvements in the Historic Area.

At around the same time the Williamsburg Lodge and Williamsburg Inn underwent extensive renovations to get them ready for 2007 and the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The event which gave the area its last spike in tourism attendance.

"More to Jamestown than to us, but our hotels did well," Campbell said.

He said that was one of his favorite times in Williamsburg, although what he remembered about it wasn't meeting Queen Elizabeth II or PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

"There was a feeling of collaboration that had been missing in the past," he said. "Unfortunately, the Great Recession dictated that we couldn't completely continue that collaboration.'

The Historic Triangle Collaborative, of which Campbell has been an active member, is a legacy of that time.

The greatest change at Colonial Williamsburg during Campbell's time was the creation of "Revolutionary City," the living history, interactive theater program in the Historic Area.

"It's certainly been the biggest programmatic change," Campbell said Thursday. "It's become the core of what Colonial Williamsburg is."

And he said that will continue.

"We're doing more with it this year, putting interpreters in the shops and taverns as well as in the streets, so visitors have the feeling 'this is a historic community and I'm a part of it,'" he said.

Campbell said the program has met his expectation.

"It's been very successful," he said. "Our guests tell us they love it."

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbellleaving-0102-20140130,0,4155076.story

Programs like "Revolutionary City" and the interactive "RevQuest" scavenger hunt game have made Colonial Williamsburg a much more "child-friendly" attraction.

"There was a great and deliberate effort to make that the case," Campbell said.

Ironic, in that declining school field trips — due both to budget cuts and liability issues, Campbell said — mean that a smaller percentage of the state's schoolchildren probably come here.

"Our field trip business was level this year, so that's an encouraging sign," he said. "But our home school visits were down. We are designing new programs for home schoolers."

Under Campbell's leadership, Colonial Williamsburg designed its own American history curriculum, an area he considers an important part of the foundation's future.

To Campbell, who came to the foundation off an 18-year stint as president of Wesleyan University, educational outreach, such as the foundation's award-winning Electronic Field is paramount to foundation's mission.

"Our Electronic Field Trips are very popular where they are offered. Our websites are popular," he said.

Colonial Williamsburg's virtual audience is already bigger — and just as important — as the audience that physically visits the Historic Area, Campbell added. And though efforts like "RevQuest," which begins online and must be completed in the Historic Area, one feeds the other.

What's next for Campbell?

He won't spend all of his time watching his grandkids.

"I think people who know me know I'm not much of a watcher," he chuckled. 'I'm more of a doer."

He said he and his wife will remain in Williamsburg.

"We have a house in South Carolina and we'll probably go there more often," he said. "That won't be hard, we've only spent 11 days there since we bought the house."

Campbell looked back with fondness on his tenure.

"Living here and being engaged in this community has been an honor, and a very nice cap to what has been a varied career."

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-campbellleaving-0102-20140130,0,4155076.story