The Isaacson, Miller consulting firm this year helped Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, find Kevin Rome to be its next president.
Last week, Lincoln University announced the Boston-based firm will help LU search for Rome's successor as LU's next president.
"We felt like they had a good understanding of Lincoln University's current situation - in terms of the financial position we're in, in terms of the needs of the university (and) what President Rome and President Mahoney had done for us in the past, and where we wanted to go in the future," Curator Winston Rutledge, an LU graduate, said.
Curators Board President Marvin Teer in April named Rutledge, of Jefferson City, and Curator Frank Logan Sr., of St. Louis, as co-chairs of the Presidential Search Committee, which will hold its first meeting Aug. 30.
LU spokeswoman Misty Young said last week that other committee members must still be named but will be before the Aug. 30 meeting.
Rome announced his plans to move to Fisk in late March.
However, Rutledge - a former assistant superintendent in Jefferson City's Public Schools and later an organizer of Calvary Lutheran High School - said he isn't concerned the search committee appears to be getting a late start.
"I've spent most of my life doing personnel work," he explained. "You start where you are and do the best you can.
"I think there are people out there. There's a person for Lincoln, and Lincoln is there for somebody - we just have to match them up."
Rutledge said the search committee members may offer many ideas of what will make the ideal candidate.
"My personal opinion (is), we're looking for someone who we think will move the university forward," he said. "I don't know what their background will be, but wherever they've been, whatever they have done in the past, wherever they're going in the future - we want someone who can continue to move the university forward."
Rutledge said the last dozen years, since former President Carolyn Mahoney began her tenure in 2005, are a crucial starting place to determine what kind of leader Lincoln needs now.
He noted Mahoney and Rome helped improve Lincoln's role and visibility in the community "and being able to conduct business at the university in spite of failing revenues (and) failing support on the part of the state. We're really doing a lot of good things for our students right now, and I think we're being accepted by the local community as being a part of the community."
As examples, Rutledge cited Lincoln's relationship with the Boys & Girls Club and with the city's Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department for building and operating The Linc wellness center.
"We're hoping that we can continue to grow that to be a part of the community," he said, "and have the community accept Lincoln as their university and continue to help us grow by sending their students to us."
On its website, Isaacson, Miller notes it has operated since 1982, recruiting "for the leadership of the nation's civic infrastructure" and completing more than 200 searches each year.
On Friday, the company listed 218 current searches in the United States and overseas, including 159 for higher education institutions - with 14 of those for presidents and two more for university chancellors.
LU isn't on that list yet.
"We're not locked in to anything," Rutledge said, "and I think that's one of the places where the search firm is going to be helpful to us because they're a very experienced firm."
He said Isaacson, Miller has worked with a variety of institutions, including some of the nation's more than 100 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Lincoln is one of those.
However, Rutledge said, LU's next president doesn't necessarily need HBCU experience.
"(It's) not critical, but helpful," he said.
Although Rome and Mahoney had been college administrators in previous jobs, Lincoln was their first presidency.
Rutledge said previous presidential experience also isn't a requirement for LU's new chief executive.
"I think we're looking for someone with the quality of experience that will meet the needs of Lincoln University," he explained. "We're looking for a quality person.
"And, I think, as you look at what we've had over the past few years - they were both different people. They both had different levels of experience - (as has) been true of Lincoln over the years."
Rome was vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management at North Carolina Central University, Durham, when he was hired in January 2013 to be LU's president.
Rome began his new job at Fisk University on July 1, and Mike Middleton is serving as Lincoln's interim president.
Rutledge said curators want to have the new president on the job by the start of the 2018-19 school year.
"We'd like to have someone next month - but I don't think that's reasonable," he quipped.
In a letter to Rutledge and Logan dated June 13, Isaacson, Miller agreed to Lincoln paying a fixed fee of $75,000, plus "customary reimbursable expenses including travel, advertising, video conferencing and candidate expenses."
The letter also noted: "It is important to underscore the extremely confidential nature of this search. All information is proprietary to and the property of Isaacson, Miller Inc."
The contract prohibits copying or distributing information "to parties not involved in the search, except where disclosure is required by law. This is essential to protect confidences and attract the best candidates."