Derek Wittner is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School. He practiced law in New York City for twenty years, specializing in corporate and real estate finance before moving into higher education in the early 1990’s.

Derek served as the Assistant Dean of Students, Dean of Alumni Affairs and Development, and Deputy Vice President at Columbia University before moving to Cooper Union where he was Vice President of Alumni Affairs and Development.

Derek and his wife Kathryn, a former Associate Dean at Columbia, moved to Kennebunkport in 2014. He has three children: a daughter who teaches in New Jersey where she lives with her husband and two children, and two step-sons: one an architecture graduate of Columbia pursuing a graduate degree in urban planning, and the other a graduate of Columbia and the School of Art where he earned an MFA in film. Derek is co-author of a book on securities and looks forward to devoting time to education in Maine.