Regents to choose Iowa State search firm

University presidents these days are more CEO-manager style, with a lot of outward focus, compared to a decade ago, several search firm consultants told state regents this week.

The state Board of Regents on Wednesday and Thursday discussed the search to replace Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy, who will step down no later than July 31, 2012, after a nearly 10-year tenure.

The regents interviewed four search firms Thursday and likely will choose one of those firms at its June meeting, if not before, Regents President David Miles said.

The job of a university president is dramatically different today than it was even a decade ago, several of the consultants said. Today, presidents are very outwardly focused and spend much of their time off campus doing things such as fundraising, lobbying, dealing with athletics issues and visiting donors. It's more rare to have inwardly focused presidents who spend the majority of time on campus handling the day-to-day oversight of the academic enterprise, the consultants said.

"Increasingly, we see a model with the president as the CEO and the provost as the COO, running the day-to-day academic functions," Bill Funk, president of R. William Funk and Associates, told the regents.

Along with Funk and Associates, a search firm based in Dallas, the board also interviewed: Isaacson, Miller, based in Boston; Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc., with offices in Washington, D.C. and Florida; and Parker Executive Search, based in Atlanta.

At a public listening session Wednesday, ISU faculty, staff and student leaders said they put a priority on having a new president with a strong academic background who understands the workings of a large research university.

Regent Michael Gartner, of Des Moines, said a president spends a lot of time raising money and dealing with athletics and legal issues.

"Why do you and your colleagues think he or she should be a scholar rather than a great general executive," Gartner asked Mike Owen, ISU Faculty Senate president.

Owen responded that the two should go hand in hand, and that faculty would not want to see an outstanding CEO-type candidate eliminated from the field.

"If we were convinced they understand scholarly activities and the importance to scholarly activities, I don't anticipate the faculty would oppose somebody," Owen said.

Luke Roling, who just finished his term as ISU Government of the Student Body president, said it's important the new president has a "clear understanding that there's more to leading a university than dollars and cents."

The range of search cost estimates from the four search firms was not available this week, but Miles said it's common for a presidential search to cost one-third of the first-year salary of the new hire, plus additional fees charged by the search firm.

Geoffroy, 64, has a base salary of $423,316, so one-third of that would be about $140,000.