FAYETTEVILLE -- The search firm that helped the University of Florida find its top leader last year will do the same for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Greenwood/Asher & Associates Inc., based in Miramar Beach, Fla., was selected over four other search firms that submitted responses to a request for proposals, said Nate Hinkel, a UA System spokesman. Greenwood/Asher also worked with the UA System in the search that led to the 2013 hire of Laurence Alexander as chancellor for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The firm will recruit candidates and vet their credentials. The UA System expects by April 15 to appoint a search committee for reviewing candidates to replace Chancellor G. David Gearhart, who in January announced plans to retire.
UA System President Donald Bobbitt will make the final hiring decision. Gearhart plans to retire July 31, and Hinkel said an interim chancellor will be named as soon as today.
Hinkel said contract negotiations with Greenwood/Asher are ongoing. Final approval must come from the state Legislature, with its review likely taking place in May, Hinkel said.
But the 28-page proposal submitted by Greenwood/Asher includes cost information.
"For this search, we propose a fee of $90,000, or one-third of the total first year's estimated cash compensation for the individual employed, whichever is higher," the document states.
Top university positions vary in pay. Gearhart earns $339,010 in yearly salary.
Hinkel said a committee including Bobbitt reviewed and ranked the search firms, with Bobbitt following the committee's recommendation in selecting Greenwood/Asher. Committee members were UA System Trustee Jim von Gremp, UA System Vice President for Administration Ann Kemp, former UA Chancellor Dan Ferritor, UA Faculty Senate Chairman John Rupe and UA Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Charles Robinson.
Other firms submitting materials were: R. William Funk & Associates, Wheless Partners, Academic Search Inc. and Witt/Kieffer.
Bobbitt has said the chancellor's position will also be advertised.
Jan Greenwood, partner and co-owner of Greenwood/Asher, which has consultants in San Diego and Washington, D.C., spoke generally about the search process but not specifically about the UA search.
"What search firms do is they are brought on board to work with search committees and the board to recruit candidates and then later verify credentials for the positions that we're recruiting for," Greenwood said.
Her firm has a "gigantic database" of potential candidates, she said.
"We listen to the feedback from the campus as to what is desired in the next person. Then, we develop our own call list for people that match those requirements and then we work on recruiting them," Greenwood said.
She said "potential candidates like the personal touch of talking with a person," so many phone calls are made to potential candidates.
"With a chancellor or presidential search, it's never just one call. It's usually five to 10 conversations per person" over the course of the search, Greenwood said.
Asked whether her firm tries to sell candidates on the merits of the position, Greenwood said: "We're certainly telling them about the great opportunity there. We're talking about the challenges for the next chancellor. We're briefing them on the position on what's desired and needed, and they are dong a self-assessment as we're doing it with them."
Metro on 04/02/2015