Same firm to lead search for new college president

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

The same headhunter firm that found Nevada State College President Kerry Romesburg will lead the search for his successor only 22 months after Romesburg took the job.

The Nevada State College Presidential Search Committee on Monday selected AT Kearney to help conduct the search for the new state college's third president over Greenwood and Associates.

Two other executive job search companies that had initially been interested in working for the college dropped out of the competition.

Romesburg in June accepted a $195,000-a-year job to become the new president of Jacksonville University, a small private college in Florida.

Alberto Pimentel, vice president of AT Kearney, said Romesburg was a good choice, though he did not stay very long, resigning in June. Pimentel said his company has a history of putting people in jobs on a more permanent basis. A study by Education/Nonprofit Practice found that 96 percent of AT Kearney placements stay a minimum four years on the job.

"I have a passion for leadership," said Pimental, who was raised in the barrio of East Los Angeles and was educated at Harvard, will find the person who best fits the college and will become its third president by Jan. 1.

"You have to ask yourselves is it a fit? Who is it that you are most comfortable with? At the end of the day, who do you trust? We cast the net widely for the top-tier candidates that are best for your institution," Pimentel said, estimating he would find 10 to 12 candidates for the job.

The firm is expected to receive between $60,000 and $75,000 -- a commission of about 33 percent of the new president's first-year salary -- for its services. The Board of Regents must approve a final contract with the company and is scheduled to do so on Aug. 24.

Committee Chairman Regent Mark Alden said he was impressed that Pimentel "did his homework and called Romesburg" to find out if Romesburg left because of any problems he had not revealed.

"He (Romesburg) spoke in very glowing terms of the school's progress and how people in the community have embraced the idea for a state college," Pimentel said. "The school is an easy sell because there are a variety of educators who thrive on the idea of building a school. There are not too many opportunities to do that in education today."

Search advisory board member Erika Beck said Pimentel "definitely has a sense of what we are looking for."

Pimentel said the biggest challenges ahead will be convincing potential candidates that the state is committed to putting serious money into the college, to accept a position under an interim chancellor because "people want to know who their boss is going to be" and to quell any concerns that the previous president left because he saw something wrong that they might be missing.