Rogers is not alone in race to run colleges

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

At least six other people are in the running against Jim Rogers, the interim chancellor of the state university system, for the permanent position, search consultant Jan Greenwood said Friday.

"These people are very strong and they are going forward, at least at the moment we are speaking," said Greenwood of Greenwood and Associates, an executive search firm hired by the Board of Regents to help conduct a national search.

Last week, five regents moved for the 13-member board to cancel the search process and just hire Rogers for the position, citing his effectiveness as the interim chancellor. The item is now on the agenda for the regents meeting Thursday and Friday in Carson City.

Regent Doug Hill, who is on the search committee, said he believed Rogers was a "stand-up guy" and that the search would not yield any better candidates. Several regents wondered if there was anyone left in the pool worth looking at.

Greenwood said there definitely is.

"I don't know how anyone got the information that there were no candidates unless there was a fear that the information out there would have scared anyone off," Greenwood said.

Greenwood said Rogers' candidacy has put the search process on "shifting sands," causing 13 candidates to drop out, but the remaining candidates are all confident that they can compete for the position.

"These people are deeply experienced, and they have a lot going for them," Greenwood said.

The pool is a diverse group of men and women with experience in both the academic and corporate worlds, Greenwood said. She said the search rules set up by the Board of Regents prohibited her from naming the candidates, but she was able to give descriptions of their qualifications.

Included in the pool is a former chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 insurance company who also has political experience working in a governor's office and served as senior administrator at a research university, Greenwood said.

Another candidate also worked in a governor's cabinet and is a former lawmaker, Greenwood said, with academic experience working in one of the largest higher education systems in the country.

Yet another candidate is a former research scientist at an "elite" university who has administrative experience as the head of a community college system, Greenwood said.

A fourth candidate has worked in both large and a small higher education systems, Greenwood said, and has had great success at brokering relationships between the institutions and private business.

Also in the pool is a medical doctor who has been both a university president and a system officer, at one point founding a higher education system, Greenwood said. A second medical doctor in the pool is a retired military general, she said.

Regent Brett Whipple had previously told the Sun that one of the candidates was a retired admiral who was a physician. Greenwood said her firm spoke with about 400 people for the job, but 150 of whom declined to participate right away because of Nevada's open-meeting laws. Over the course of several weeks, Greenwood said she and her staff narrowed the candidates down to the top 20. Including Rogers, seven are left.

Greenwood said her firm is moving forward in "good faith" with the search as ordered by regents, and that she believed the search would ultimately strengthen who ever is selected for the job.

The university system is paying $80,000 plus expenses for the search.