Presidential Search

The Presidential Search Committee solicited qualifications for an executive search firm through a Request for Proposals process. Many responses were received and following consideration of several highly respected search firms, the Presidential Search Committee recommended, and the Board of Trustees approved, the selection of Russell Reynolds Associates (Russell Reynolds). Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leadership advisory firm, with 600+ consultants in 48 offices, who work with public, private, and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. Russell Reynolds will assist and guide the selection process and help Fisk University find a transformational leader who can meet today’s challenges and anticipate the digital, economic, sustainability, and political trends that are reshaping the global educational environment. Over the past two weeks, Russell Reynolds has had an opportunity to meet with the President, cabinet members, faculty and students to gather the thoughts of the Fisk community regarding the characteristics of a new president. The next critical step in our process is to synthesize all the comments of the Fisk community and create a candidate profile, which is essential to a successful presidential selection process.

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Presidential Search Update

 

After several weeks of recruiting, the Presidential Search Committee has moved into the most rigorous phase, evaluating candidate resumes based on the qualifications described in the Presidential Search Prospectus, and identifying those who will advance to the interview phase of the search process. The search partners at Russell Reynolds, with the assistance of nominations from many of you, recruited a robust pool of exceptional candidates with a broad range of experience and expertise, including those from within higher education and those from other industries.

 

Both the Presidential Search Committee and Russell Reynolds appreciate all the community input from the participation in the feedback survey and listening sessions. The Presidential Search Committee will continue to consider the community input as they consider and evaluate candidates.  The Presidential Search Committee remains focused on identifying the best president for our beloved Fisk and will provide future updates as we advance through the selection process.

 

The Presidential Search Process is following the anticipated timeline below:

Action Steps	Anticipated Timing
Identify and approach prospects and sources	Complete
Outreach to, and response form, prospects and sources	Ongoing
Search Committee review of candidates	Ongoing
First-round interviews of candidates	June - July 2023
Second-round interviews of candidates	July - August 2023
Pre-selection process  and engagement	August - September 2023
Search Completion	October 2023