UD retains Russell Reynolds Associates to assist with presidential search

11:29 a.m., May 8, 2015--The University of Delaware has retained a highly respected, global executive leadership and search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, to assist with the search for the University's next president.

The announcement was made today by the co-chairs of the Presidential Search Committee, trustees Terri Kelly, president and CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates, and Don Puglisi, MBNA America Professor of Business Emeritus and managing director of Puglisi & Associates. 

Campus Stories

From graduates, faculty

As it neared time for the processional to open the University of Delaware Commencement ceremonies, graduating students and faculty members shared their feelings about what the event means to them.

Doctoral hooding

It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green.

• Doctoral hooding
• Old Swedes
• Summer SAT, ACT prep
• 'Opus 13' pre-sale

"After a competitive process that included consideration and review of several leading executive search firms, the University of Delaware Presidential Search Committee has retained the services of Russell Reynolds Associates to assist in this very important search," Puglisi said.

"Our goal as a committee is to identify the individual who will best be able to lead the University forward, building on its current reputation of excellence in undergraduate education, research and scholarship. At the same time, it will be critical that the University expands its history of service to the state, the region and the world," Kelly said. "Russell Reynolds will be a valuable partner to us in the process." 

Ilene H. Nagel, head of the firm's Higher Education Practice, will lead the search team assisting UD. Nagel has previously led the presidential search teams for MIT, the University of Michigan, Tulane, Johns Hopkins, Stony Brook, the University of Miami and others.

Before joining Russell Reynolds, she was herself a long-term academic, having held professorial and senior administrative appointments at Indiana University (Bloomington), the University of Maryland (College Park), and the University of California Santa Barbara. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and a master's of legal studies from Stanford Law School. 

She will be joined by her colleagues, Jett Pihakis, who has his Ph.D. from Stanford and has recruited department chairs, deans, vice presidents, provosts and presidents to universities across the country, and Bridget Hough Meynenc, who has her doctorate from UC Santa Barbara and who has partnered with Nagel in the recruitment of senior academic administrators for major research universities and academic and scientific research institutions.

Russell Reynolds Associates, a private firm with offices across North and South America, Europe and Asia, has been serving clients globally for 45 years. 

The 15-member Presidential Search Committee includes representatives from key University constituencies, including the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni. 

Photo by Evan Krape