The search for the USF system’s seventh president began Friday with the announcement of the 15-person search committee. This came four days after Genshaft confirmed her retirement. Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
By Anna Bryson and Jonah Hinebaugh
The process of finding a new University of South Florida president is already underway. Judy Genshaft announced her retirement Sept. 10 and the next president will take office July 1.
In a Board of Trustees meeting Friday, chair Brian Lamb announced the search committee that will help select the seventh president of USF.
Lamb stressed that many people not on the search committee will also play a role in selecting the next USF president.
The chair of the search committee is Leslie Muma, who joined the Board of Trustees earlier this year. He graduated from USF in 1966 and is a Pinellas County resident. Muma is the co-founder of Fiserv Inc., a Fortune 500 company providing technology products and services. He retired from Fiserv in 2006. He holds an honorary doctorate of business administration from USF in 2004.
“Les, as you know, has been an outstanding leader in this community and at the institution in a number of ways,” Lamb said. “I feel strongly that Les is the right choice to help us elect our seventh president.”
There are 14 other members of the search committee, with representation from all three campuses.
Stephanie E. Goforth
USF alumna Stephanie E. Goforth joined the BOT in 2001. She holds multiple positions, including chair of the academics and campus environment committee. She also chairs the USF St. Petersburg Campus Board. Outside of the university, Goforth serves as senior vice president of the east region sales and marketing and wealth management at Northern Trust Corporation.
Byron Shinn
Byron Shinn is based in Manatee County working with the USF Sarasota-Manatee Campus Board and Community Leadership Council. Shinn graduated from USF with a Bachelor of Arts in accounting. He’s partner-in-charge of the Bradenton and Sarasota offices of Alabama-based Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC.
John Ramil
John Ramil, the longest-serving member on the BOT, has a long list of credentials after graduating with a master’s degree in engineering from the university. He’s included in many boards, with companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, the Moffitt Cancer Center Institute and Edison Electric Institute.
Darlene Jordan
Jordan serves on the Florida Board of Governors. Receiving Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Women of Distinction Award in March 2017 for her commitment to her community and educational causes, Jordan’s impact reaches across the East Coast of the U.S. from Boston – previously working as assistant attorney general for the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, where she served in the Insurance Fraud Division from 1996 to 1999 – to Tampa Bay, working with USF as the co-chair of the Financial Aid Campaign and of the successfully completed $500 million comprehensive campaign.
Rhea Law
A past board chair and USF alumna, Law is a founding member of the USF BOT, where she was the first and only female chair. She was on the search committee that hired Genshaft in 2000.
Debbie Nye Sembler
A Pinellas county resident, Sembler is the former chair of USF St. Petersburg’s Campus Board and a former trustee.
“I think that it’s very important with all the things going on across the system, including consolidation, having a little bit of understanding of the students and the faculty on (the St. Petersburg) campus,” Lamb said of Sembler.
Frederick “Rick” Piccolo
A USF Sarasota-Manatee campus board member, Piccolo serves on the consolidation task force. He has been the president and CEO of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) since 1995.
Braulio Colón
Colón is a USF alumnus and chair-elect of the USF Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication and Africana studies in 2003 and a master’s in public administration in 2010.
George Morgan
A resident of Manatee County, Morgan helped elevate and accelerate the university’s brand. He is an alumnus and serves as the chair of the USF Foundation Board of Directors.
Anddrikk Frazier
Frazier is former student basketball player at USF and also serves on the consolidation task force. He is the founder of the USF Black Leadership Network.
Dr. Charles Stanish
Stanish is an anthropology professor at USF Sciences and is the executive director of the USF Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Robert D. Frisina, Ph. D
Frisina is a USF professor in medical engineering, chemical and biological engineering, and communication sciences and disorders. He is the acting chair of USF’s medical engineering department.
Dr. Kathy Weedman Arthur
Arthur is a tenured faculty member and researcher at USF St. Petersburg. A recipient of National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities research grants, Arthur discovered the first ancient human genome sequence in Africa and has been internationally acclaimed.
Shaquille Kent
Kent is the student government vice president at USF Tampa and the only student on the search committee. He is a marketing and supply chain management major and is an international student from Trinidad and Tobago.
“He serves a very important role of serving our students,” Lamb said. “We have over 50,000 students here at our institution and they will have a voice in helping us elect our next president.”
Timeline
The Board of Trustees will hire a search firm this week to aid in the presidential selection process.
“We are not delegating any authority to the search committee,” Lamb said. “The board will be making the final decisions.”
October – November: The search committee will meet at least three times. They will meet with the search firm to discuss process, criteria and expectations for the role as well as monetary compensation. They will review reports and candidates.
November – December: Data from the search firm will be reviewed by search committee.
January – March: The search committee will review applications and select candidates for on-campus interviews.
February: There will be a robust interview process on campus.
February – March: The search committee will present to the BOT.
March – April: The search committee will meet with with Board of Governors to confirm the selection and recommendation.
At a press conference Sept. 10 Genshaft spoke about USF’s “unprecedented” trajectory, including achievements such as the university’s preeminence status, its new chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and this year’s freshman class, which is the most prestigious in the university’s history.
Genshaft said that her and her husband Steven Greenbaum have been thinking about her retirement since May. She plans to stay in the Tampa Bay area.
“I know that the USF community around us, our strong leadership team, our great and supportive fantastic Board of Trustees will ensure that we keep pushing forward as we reach even greater heights at the University of South Florida,” Genshaft said.
