UT board turns to firm in search for new chief
Jacobs set to stay until June, 2015
4/16/2014There’s still more than a year to go before University of Toledo President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs leaves his position, but university trustees are wasting no time seeking his replacement.
The university board plans to enter into an agreement with an executive-search firm to help find a replacement for Dr. Jacobs, board Chairman Joseph H. Zerbey IV announced this week. Vice Provost John Barrett and Larry Burns, the university’s vice president for external affairs, will lead a logistical support committee that will work with an as yet-unformed search committee and a search firm.
Mr. Zerbey, who is also The Blade’s president and general manager, said it is critical the board use a “transparent and effective process” in the search.
So far, the university has not issued a request for proposals from search firms, a UT spokesman said.
But representatives of AGB Search, the search affiliate of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, attended the UT board’s social dinner last week. The representatives explained the search process and appeared to pitch their services to the university.
Dr. Jacobs, the university’s president since 2006, and UT jointly announced last month that he would step down effective June 30, 2015, a year before his contract ends. University officials have not publicly offered an explanation for the decision, only describing it as a “mutually agreed” decision between Dr. Jacobs and the UT Board of Trustees.
Dr. Jacobs also declined to comment on several occasions, including Monday, about the early departure. He previously had told The Blade if his health permitted and the board desired, he planned to stay until at least the end of his contract.
Dr. Jacobs, 72, received a pacemaker last week and returned to work days later.
Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.