Top recruiting firm retained to assist in presidential search

The University of South Carolina has retained one of the nation’s top recruiting firms to assist in the university’s search for its 28th president.

In a meeting Tuesday (March 18), the Presidential Candidate Search Committee voted unanimously to request the USC Educational Foundation to engage the services of R. William Funk & Associates of Dallas on behalf of the university.

“Based on their record of recruiting some of the nation’s most respected and admired university chief executives, I am confident that the firm will serve us well in our search for a president to lead the University Of South Carolina at a critical time in its history,” Miles Loadholt, chairman of the Presidential Candidate Search Committee, said. “Bill Funk’s insights into higher education and his connections to major university presidents made a strong impression on the committee.”

Over the past 20 years, the firm’s consultants have conducted more than 300 searches for presidents and chancellors at some of the nation’s leading institutions of higher education, including Cornell University, the LSU System, the University of Washington and Purdue University.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has dubbed Bill Funk, the firm’s founder and president, as “the guru of higher education recruiting.” Plans call for Funk, who will be personally responsible for the University of South Carolina presidential search, to visit the campus and meet with the search committee and the Board of Trustees in early April.

Among the currently sitting presidents recruited by Funk and his team are James Oblinger, chancellor of North Carolina State University; T.K. Wetherell, president of Florida State University; and Dan C. Mote, chancellor of the University of Maryland.

Loadholt said the search committee sent out requests for proposals from recruiting firms around the country. After receiving proposals, a subcommittee narrowed the field to four firms, whose representatives were interviewed by the full committee.

Loadholt said the committee would like to have a president by late summer or early fall, but the overarching goal is to have the best and most qualified individual in place even if the search extends beyond that time frame.