DeSantis ally withdraws name from Broward College presidency

In an unexpected twist, Barbara Bryan, a former administrator with nearly 40 years of experience in higher education, will be Broward College’s acting president — instead of Henry Mack, a Gov. Ron DeSantis ally whom the college’s Board of Trustees had selected Tuesday.

Bryan will be the first female president of the college, one of the largest in the country with about 56,000 students.

At a meeting Tuesday at the college’s downtown Fort Lauderdale center, the five members of the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name Mack, 42, acting president after interviewing him, Bryan and another candidate. They selected Bryan, 67, as the “Option B” in case Mack’s hiring didn’t go through.

That option came to fruition when Mack withdrew his name from the process Tuesday afternoon after he and representatives from the college couldn’t agree on compensation or the duration of his contract.

Board of Trustees Chair Alexis Yarbrough told the Miami Herald in an interview Wednesday that Mack wanted the contract to last for at least a year and requested a $400,000 annual salary with a housing allowance. The college would only go up to a six-month contract and wanted his salary to fall somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000, the range posted for the job online, Yarbrough said.

Mack did not immediately respond to a request for comments from the Herald.

Bryan officially started Tuesday and will work for six months until April 3, 2024. The five trustees could extend her term for another six months after that, according to her contract. She will make an annual salary of $287,004.

“I am grateful that the board had slated two candidates, and we’ve been able to move swiftly to get Dr. Bryan in the role,” Yarbrough said.

Bryan replaced Gregory Haile, who resigned abruptly on Sept. 13,

AMY BETH BENNETT South Florida Sun Sentinel Barbara Bryan was named interim president of Broward College on Wednesday after Henry Mack withdrew when he and the Board of Trustees could not agree on contract terms. Bryan will be the first female president of the college, which has about 56,000 students. She served for 26 years as an administrator at the college and was president of the Coconut Creek campus from 2006 to 2013.