VCU news

By James Irwin

Bill Cole is looking forward to a few things in retirement. Among them: more time for golf.

“I think there’s a sense that I play golf more than I really do, so I’d really like to just live up to what people think,” Cole said, laughing. “So golf is certainly in the future.”

Cole, Virginia Commonwealth University’s executive director of audit and compliance services, is retiring at the end of the month after seven years at the university. He oversees audit and management, information technology and compliance services for VCU and VCU Health.

A member of the president’s senior administration, Cole was recognized for his work at the December meeting of the university’s Board of Visitors. He has spent most of his career in higher education and government, previously serving 28 years in audit management for the state, the last 16 as deputy auditor in the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts.

His time at VCU, beginning more than 20 years ago as an MBA student in the School of Business, has been rewarding, he said. 

“I knew coming into VCU that it was a leader among Virginia universities,” he said. “The university just continues to evolve and all the good work that it does continues to amaze me. And even though we only see a snippet of it, it’s fascinating. I’m just astonished at all it can do.

“It really has brought Richmond a long way and will continue to do that for years to come.” 

Cole has been making plans for life after VCU. There are idle house projects he hopes to restart and future trips to Denver to visit his son and his family. He might look into consulting part time.

First, though, he’s taking a vacation.

“We have a trip planned with some friends,” he said. “We’re going to New Orleans and Nashville. It’ll be about a 10-day trip — with a little golf along the way.”