New COD president: 'I'm not here for the money'

GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (WLS) -- New College of DuPage President-designate Ann Rondeau will be paid $325,000 per year over her three-year deal. The new president must deal with the aftermath of a spending scandal that saw the ouster of the college's former president.

"I'm not here for the money," Rondeau said as she made the media rounds Friday on the sprawling campus of the school that has been mired in a spending controversy associated with her predecessor, Robert Breuder.

"Part of my job as the president will be the really reveal the goodness that is here because at its core, the college is in great shape," Rondeau said.

The board approved Rondeau's contract 4-3, with the objectors voting "present" or abstaining. They served under Breuder.

Rondeau, the former president of the National Defense University - a consortium of Washington colleges and research centers - is a Navy Vice Admiral and hopes her values of honor and service will help rebuild public trust in the taxpayer-supported college.

"The sullied reputation has been about administration and the governance issues with the board. That's been part of the press, that's clear. But what's not been sullied is the core mission that's being done and I think its important to keep our minds on that," Rondeau said.

Rondeau does not come cheap. According to the college, Rondeau will have the highest base pay of all of the region's community college heads.

Her total cash compensation will rank her third behind the presidents of Elgin and Harper College, but 8 percent ahead of the chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, who, as of last fall, had 43 percent more students.

President-designate Rondeau takes up her duties as COD's 6th president on July 1. That's about when the college kicks off its 50th anniversary celebrations, a yearlong affair she hopes rights the ship of her new institution.