Simpson leaves PAGR; Stephan to serve as interim VP

By Susan Dillman

Bill Stephan, special assistant to IU President Myles Brand, will serve as interim vice president for public affairs.

“Vice President Simpson has given the university extremely capable service in good times and difficult ones,” said Brand. “We appreciate having the benefit of his outstanding skills in marketing, communications and governmental affairs, and we wish him well in the future.”

Simpson was named vice president for public affairs and government relations in 1995. Under his leadership, the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations has become a highly successful marketing and public relations operation, having won 17 major awards in the last five years.

“I have been very fortunate to work with an extraordinary number of superb IU faculty, staff and administrators in the last seven years,” Simpson said. “Today, IU is tremendously strong in all aspects, and I hope I was able to play a very small role in our success.”

Simpson and his wife, Millie, have formed Simpson Communications LLC, an Indiana-based marketing and public relations firm that will offer a variety of marketing and public relations services in higher education, government, corporate and private sectors nationwide. The firm will be headquartered in Bloomington and will open an office later this summer in the Washington, D.C., area.

Stephan is a 1984 graduate of the IU School of Law- Indianapolis and has had a long career in the public and private sectors. He worked as chief of staff for former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith and was president of the Indianapolis Private Industry Council, which focuses on workforce and economic development issues in central Indiana. He came to IU in January 2000 to head up economic development efforts in information technology and to work as a special assistant to Brand.

“I feel very privileged to serve the university in this role,” said Stephan, “and I look forward to working with my many fine colleagues to promote the qualities that distinguish IU as one of the nation’s leading institutions of learning, research and service.”