Chief of Staff Dennis Cornell serves with a special kind of energy

He’s got a firm handshake, a quick answer to every question and an impressive memory. But the most noticeable thing about Dennis Cornell, chief of staff to President C. L. Max Nikias, is his energy.

Quick chat · Dennis Cornell, chief of staff to President C. L. Max Nikias, answers a phone call in his office in Bovard Auditorium. – Rachel Bracker | Daily Trojan

This energy has been with Cornell from the start. Cornell came to USC after a career in Hollywood, serving as vice president of casting and talent development for Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television and working on shows such as “Cheers” and “Who’s the Boss.” He said he just meant to take off one year and teach, but that was in 1991.

“I thought I’ll sort of clear my head, take a break and go back into the television industry,” Cornell said with a chuckle. “And I never went back.”

After serving as the managing director of the School of Dramatic Arts his second through fourth year at USC, he was appointed executive director of University Events. He got to know Nikias when the Viterbi School of Engineering received its naming donation and Cornell planned events for it. A few years later, when Nikias became provost, Cornell helped set up Visions and Voices. And the day he was named president, Nikias called Cornell to ask if he wanted to be chief of staff.

“I’m a believer in my own life about saying ‘yes’ to things,” Cornell said. “If a door opens, you walk through it.”

And now that he’s walked through that door, Cornell doesn’t do much but work, and enthusiastically. He often starts answering emails at 5 a.m. and usually is at his office in Bovard by 8 a.m. If he goes home in the early evening, he said he’ll usually answer emails until 11 p.m., but he’s often working until 9 or 10 at night after events, when he staffs the president.

“The good news is I do get some time on the weekend,” he said, “but it’s not every weekend.”

His week starts on Monday, where he goes over everything Nikias is doing twice: Once with the staff in the president’s office and once with media relations, to go over what will happen at the university for the next few weeks, covering everything from the schedule to speech writing.

“We run a huge organization, a $3.4 billion-a-year operation, which is larger than most cities and some states probably,” Cornell said. “It’s a big place, and a lot can happen here.”

Part of Cornell’s job (and why he spends so much time answering emails) is that chiefs of staff serve as gatekeepers to the president.

“But gatekeeper has a negative connotation, because the point is to keep people out,” Cornell said. “I look at it in a very positive way, which is to let people come to your door, see if you can find a way to solve that problem before it ever has to elevate to a presidential level.”

He said he ensures everyone gets a response, even if the response is just that the letter has been received. Additionally, all correspondence to the president’s office is electronically catalogued, so that a letter sent three years ago could be pulled up with a search for the sender’s name or the subject of the letter. At the same time, USC does have a hierarchy that goes up to the top.

“What’s amazed me about this job, which I didn’t realize when I came on board here before we actually started, is how everything flows right up to the president,” Cornell said. “The buck stops there with him.”

Cornell is also the university’s director of protocol, which means he ensures visitors and guests of the university are treated well and with respect.

“We have a lot of visiting dignitaries,” Cornell said. “Every one of them walks in here and brings a gift — a book or a token from their country — and we reciprocate, and that’s just one part of it.”

Cornell stressed that protocol is especially important when representing USC in foreign nations. His knowledge of this and of Nikias’ vision for the university allows him to occasionally serve as an emissary of the president, most recently to South Korea. And Cornell said the travel, which is usually with Nikias, is one of the best parts of his job.

“I’ve always been someone who’s loved getting on a plane anyway,” Cornell said. “But I really love getting to travel with people and meet people. We really meet the most fascinating people. … The average Joe on the street doesn’t get to do this.”

And the bottomless well of energy from which Cornell draws upon to work has been directed at a variety of causes. Before serving as chief of staff, Cornell also produced seven benefit dinners for the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy and lobbying group that promotes the social welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

“I’m a gay person. And I feel that it’s really important now to make sure that people understand that and know that and know who you are, to take away any fear about being gay,” Cornell said. “Not so much in California or L.A., and certainly not at USC, but there is a world of people out there who are afraid.”

Cornell said he doesn’t have time to organize events for HRC anymore but still supports its mission. And he’s given up other things, such as bowling on Monday nights. He does have a French bulldog (“Napoleon, and he is!”), but the focus of his life is his job.

“I have no time to date really or anything, but I have a beautiful life,” Cornell said. “USC, like every organization, has its quirks and its problems. But when you get down to it, the opportunity here and the people here are incredible.”

And being chief of staff is more than just a job. Cornell said Nikias and his wife, First Lady Niki Nikias, have made him a part of their family.

“Niki calls me her brother because we needle each other like a brother and sister would,” Cornell said. “We’re all around the same age, and we have a simpatico.”

At the end of the day, Cornell said he’s proud to contribute his energy to the university.

“I love USC and it’s taken care of me,” Cornell said, “and I work really hard for it.”