Pictured Above: The 15-member search committee was confirmed during Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
By Annalise Anderson
The USF Board of Trustees solidified its presidential search committee on Tuesday, taking the next step in determining who will serve as the university’s eighth president.
The 15-member committee is chaired by Board of Trustees Vice Chair Mike Griffin and is made up of the following university and community leaders:
- Vice Chair Melissa Seixas, State President – Duke Energy Florida, USF Board of Trustees
- Tammy Allen, USF Distinguished University Professor, Industrial-Organizational Psychology
- Derrick Brooks, EVP Corporate & Community Development, Vinik Sports Group; Motivational Speaker; NFL Hall of Famer; Board Member, Kforce, Inc.; President and Founder, Derrick Brooks Charities
- Lisa Carlton, USF Sarasota-Manatee Campus Advisory Board
- Braulio Colón, Vice President, Florida Student Success Initiatives, Helios Education Foundation
- John Couris, President and CEO, Tampa General Hospital
- Julia Cunningham, USF student, USF Board of Trustees
- Oscar J. Horton, President and CEO of Sun State International, USF Board of Trustees
- Patrick Hwu, MD, President and CEO, Moffitt Cancer Center
- Ken Jones, Founder and CEO of TL Capital and Third Lake Partners, SUS BOG
- Mark T. Mondello, CEO, Jabil Inc.
- Sylvia Wilson Thomas, Ph.D., USF Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Fellow – American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Senior Member, National Academy of Inventors
- Debbie Nye Sembler, USF St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board
- Jose E. Valiente, Chair, USF Foundation Board of Directors, Retired Partner at Clifton Larson Allen, LLP
Chair Will Weatherford announced the finalized committee in an email after the board’s Tuesday meeting.
According to the board, each member of the committee provides “a unique perspective” on the future of USF.
“I have full confidence in this esteemed group of individuals, who care deeply about USF and its future,” Weatherford said. “The search committee has a central role to play in finding our next great president and I thank the members of the committee in advance for their willingness to serve.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Master of Public Health student Connor Habecker, addressed the board, requesting that input from the USF community on the next president be taken into greater consideration.
“Back when Judy Genshaft was retiring and they elected Steven Currall, I didn’t really have a problem with it because I didn’t know the effect that a president could have,” Habecker said.
“It turned out that I didn’t really agree with the values that Steven Curall was trying to implement versus what Judy Genshaft had tried to make this campus into over her long career as the president. While I don’t hold any disregard for Steven at all, I think he definitely diverged away from the core values of what USF was meant to be.
“My request is pretty simple: To ask for a greater process of election for the president. Maybe letting the students, faculty, staff and previous graduates have greater input on who the next president is going to be, because as I said in the email to request to be here, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least request it, and then I had a president who I didn’t agree with again.”
Weatherford thanked Habecker for his transparency.
“Let me just say on the onset, we want to get this right,” Weatherford said.
The board also selected boutique firm SP&A Executive Search to aid the committee in attracting a diverse pool of presidential candidates. The firm has partnered with other public state universities in Florida and Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions.
The search committee and the firm will work with USF stakeholders to help prepare a job description for the presidential role, identify and interview candidates, and recommend a list of finalists for consideration by the Board of Trustees.
The board will vote on the university’s next president, which is subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors.
Interim President Rhea Law was appointed to the position earlier this month after Steve Currall announced his sudden retirement from the presidency in July.
Law, who served on USF’s last two presidential search committees, stated that she will not apply for the permanent president role.
All search committee meetings will be open to the public. To learn more about USF’s president search and its committee meetings, click here.
