AD search committee hires executive search firm

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan advisory committee responsible for searching for a new U-M athletic director has hired Heidrick and Struggles Inc., an executive search firm based in Chicago, to assist in the search.

Heidrick and Struggles will be responsible for assisting the search advisory committee in generating a broad and diverse pool of candidates to be considered by the committee, said James S. Jackson, chair of the search committee. The committee’s role will be to evaluate the candidates and recommend to President Lee C. Bollinger an unranked slate of three finalists for his consideration.

Jackson is the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, and director and senior research scientist of the Research Center for Group Dynamics.

“The search committee is making good progress,” Jackson said. “We have been gathering information on the goals and priorities of the Athletic Department and have begun to generate names of potential candidates. The search firm will help us move that process along more rapidly.”

Heidrick and Struggles has been involved in a number of senior-level searches at the University, most recently those which resulted in the hiring of Robert Kasdin as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Bryan Rogers as dean of the School of Art and Design.

Jackson noted that the search committee is broadly representative of the University community and is seeking views from all parts of the community, including alumni. Messages about the athletic director search may be sent to ADsearch@umich.edu.

Nominations for the position
Committee members are: Paula Allen-Meares, dean and professor, School of Social Work; Lloyd Carr, head football coach; Philip Hanlon, professor of mathematics; Denise Ilitch, president, Olympia Development Inc.; Ethan Johnson, student, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA); Richard Katcher, member of the Athletic Development Advisory Board; Mark Lambert, coordinator of aquatic events, Athletic Department; John Matlock, assistant provost and director, Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives; Marcia Pankratz, women’s field hockey coach;

Marissa Pollick, president of the “M Club,” attorney and shareholder, Butzel Long; Ashley Reichenbach, student, LSA; Suellyn Scarnecchia, associate dean for clinical affairs in the Law School and clinical professor of law; Timothy Slottow, associate vice president for finance; James F. Stapleton, president and CEO, B & R Consultants; Beverly Ulrich, director and professor, Division of Kinesiology, and research scientist, Center for Human Growth and Development; and B. Joseph White, dean of the School of Business Administration and the Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Leadership in Management Education. Gary Krenz, special counsel to the president, is staffing the search.

Heidrick and Struggles Inc.James S. JacksonPsychologyADsearch@umich.edu