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James Danko will remain president of Butler University through at least August 2026 after the school’s board of trustees voted to extend his contract by three years.
Butler said Tuesday that Danko’s new contract also includes one-year renewal options beyond 2026.
Danko, 69, became the school’s 21st president in 2011 after serving as dean of Villanova University’s business school for six years. He succeeded Bobby Fong, who had led the university through a decade of enormous growth.
Danko has led a significant transformation of the Butler campus, including nearly $500 million in capital improvement projects to upgrade academic, research, residential, performance and athletic spaces.
In 2013, Danko successfully advocated for Butler‘s athletic teams to become a member of the NCAA‘s Big East Conference. Most recently, he led the university through its most successful fundraising campaign in history—Butler Beyond, which has exceeded its $250 million goal and is on track to hit nearly $270 million.
“Under Jim Danko’s leadership, Butler University has flourished for more than a decade,” Keith Faller, chair of Butler’s board of trustees, said in written comments. “Butler’s national prestige and academic reputation have never been better. We’ve just successfully completed the largest fundraising campaign in the University’s history, our enrollment numbers are strong, the campus has been transformed, and, most
importantly, our graduates are in high demand and making a difference in communities across the globe. Jim deserves a great deal of credit for that success.”
Prior to his stint at Villanova, Danko served in leadership roles at Dartmouth University, the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Before entering academia, Danko spent nearly 20 years as an entrepreneur, running a surgical supply company he founded as a 19-year-old. He expanded the business over the years before selling Exercare Corp. in 1990.
Butler has an enrollment of 4,500 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students representing 46 states and 24 countries.
Danko received compensation of $854,498 in the fiscal year ending in May 2022, according to public not-for-profit filings.
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