Ithaca College appoints Costa as general counsel

ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College announced it has named Guilherme Costa VP and general counsel.

Costa has served for the past three years as the chief legal officer of the public university system in South Dakota. He will assume his new position at Ithaca College on Sept. 10, the college said in a news release.

Costa also previously spent five years with the counsel’s office at the University of Idaho, and before that served in private practice as an associate attorney in the health-care practice group at the Washington, D.C. office of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP.

Costa will report directly to Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado and be responsible for providing executive and administrative direction over the college’s legal affairs. He will also serve as secretary to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees.

“Throughout his career, Guilherme has demonstrated an innovative and creative leadership style as well as a dedication to higher education,” Collado said in the release. “His depth and breadth of experience and collaborative approach will help advance the college’s goals of providing a deeply student-centered learning community and safe, productive working environment that values full participation.”

Costa will have responsibility for a range of legal, regulatory, compliance, insurance and risk management matters affecting Ithaca College, in addition to providing support, advice and assistance to the board of trustees, president, senior leaders, faculty, and staff. Reporting to him will be the associate counsel, assistant counsel, director of risk management and insurance, and Title IX coordinator.

Ithaca College announced last fall that longtime general counsel and board secretary Nancy Pringle will serve through June 2019 as executive VP. Reflecting her 24 years of leadership at the college, Pringle will serve as a senior advisor to Collado and continue to have oversight of the Office of Human Resources during the transition year, the release stated. In addition, Pringle will work closely with Costa during his initial year as Ithaca College’s general counsel and secretary to the board of trustees.

Costa earned his law degree in 2008 from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he served as a law clerk in the Office of General Counsel. He holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida — in business administration and in political science — and a master’s degree from the University of Idaho in adult/organizational learning and leadership.

Founded in 1892, Ithaca College has about 6,500 students and offers more than 100 degree programs.

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Photo credit: Ithaca College