As Lincoln University's search for a new president begins, Monroe "Bud" Moseley wants people to remember one thing: "Search consultants do not make the decisions."
The consultant helping LU with that process, Moseley is a vice president for Boston-based Isaacson, Miller, which has operated since 1982 as a recruiter for the leadership of various institutions. It completes more than 200 searches each year.
"We don't decide who the candidates are going to be," Moseley said last week. "We don't decide who the finalists are going to be.
"And we certainly don't decide who the selected officer is going to be as president."
He said search consultants do their work based on the information the client provides.
They act as a gatekeeper for the initial applications and screen those based on a profile developed with the help and approval of search committees and curators.
Isaacson, Miller Senior Associate Courtney Thomas told LU's Curators last week: "One of our competitive advantages is that it's very thorough process, and we have an entire team" going through the applications.
Another element is the firm's experience, she said.
"We have a sense of who are the up-and-comers," Thomas explained.
And many times, Senior Associate Donna Cramer added, "What we do is, really, networking."
Often, some of the best candidates aren't looking to change from their current positions, she said, but once identified through the recommendations of others, the consultants will keep contacting them and encouraging them at least to apply for a vacancy.
That's how Isaacson, Miller found Kevin Rome, who said he was happy as Lincoln's 20th president but accepted the presidency at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
"Executive search consultants are often referred to, pejoratively, as 'head-hunters,'" Moseley acknowledged in an interview. "The reality is the search committee makes a recommendation to the curators, and the curators make the decision."
One key at the beginning of a search is helping the school's officials understand who they are and what the university thinks it will need from its new chief executive, he said.
"The more you understand and clarify what it is the client believes is a measure of success, then you can attract candidates who can help you achieve those measures of success," Moseley explained.
"You have to help the client identify what is important to them."
And that means the consultant doesn't begin with any pre-conceived idea of how the search should be done, or who should be included in it, Moseley said.
Again, he emphasized, those ideas come from a school's leaders.
"They will help us determine where we should look, what we should be looking for, where will this person have gained experience to give them confidence (so) they can bring that experience to the new institution," he said.
"We have a broad, broad idea of the process - but how one employs it is distinct for each institution."
Last week, at separate meetings with LU Curators and with 17 of the search committee's 20 members, Moseley and his colleagues asked for characteristics LU's leaders think will be important in Lincoln's next president.
The public is encouraged to weigh in, as well, sending ideas to a special email address created last week for those ideas: [email protected].
Part of last week's discussions involved whether the next president must have only an academic background, a business background or both.
LU Interim President Mike Middleton noted, first and foremost, the next Lincoln president needs to be "someone with visionary leadership."
Additionally, he cautioned, a college or university president won't be successful if they're "trying to run the university as a business. That is death for a president at a university."
He said that approach misses chances to work with faculty, staff and students.
Middleton acknowledged all colleges and universities "need to be more efficient, have their books balanced and spend money wisely."
But, he added: "This idea of top-down control - won't work."
Moseley said any higher education president must understand money "is a 'Big Deal,'" even if they're working with a chief financial officer who regularly monitors income and spending.
Lincoln's curators and search committee members also talked with Moseley's team about LU's being a historically black university, and the history of the school's founding.
Moseley told the News Tribune: "That's a unique experience that Lincoln University possesses right now and we hope that would be an attraction for potential candidates."
He added: "To the degree we understand what the institution has been helps us understand - with the curators, faculty and staff - what they want the institution to be going forward."