UCF leader search cost $236K
Recruiting firm makes up most of price tag
From trays of Brazilian tuna tartare to $180-per-plate dinners, the University of Central Florida wined and dined candidates for the institution’s top post during the final stages of a national search.
The university, its foundation and the athletics association spent nearly $236,000 on consultant fees, travel, meals, hotel stays, facility rentals, security and more during the four-month-long search, flying in candidates from as far away as Grand Forks, N.D.
On March 9, against a backdrop of rented black velour drapes ($565, including set-up), the Board of Trustees agreed unanimously to promote the hometown candidate, Provost Dale Whittaker, who has worked at UCF since 2014. Picked over three other finalists, he will succeed outgoing President John Hitt, who is set to retire June 30 after 26 years.
State rules, which require public universities to conduct “robust” searches, make many of those costs unavoidable, said Marcos Marchena, the chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. The
Florida Board of Governors, the group that oversees the state university system, outlines the steps institutions must follow when choosing new presidents. That includes assembling a 15-member search committee whose meetings are open to the public and publishing a timeline for the search.
And even if the university didn’t have to consider outsiders, Marchena said, there are good reasons for doing so.
“You don’t know what’s available to you until you go out and do that search and test those waters,” Marchena said.
By far, the largest expense associated with selecting Hitt’s replacement was the $150,000 fee for Parker Executive Search, the Atlantabased firm that recruited and screened candidates and arranged their travel.
But the other costs added up, an Orlando Sentinel analysis showed, including:
■ Hosting more than a dozen meetings, interviews and forums. The university spent $12,938 for on-campus facility rentals, $5,640 to record and broadcast those events and $3,760 for university police protection.
■ Renting a room at the Fairwinds Alumni Center and livestreaming Whittaker’s first remarks as president-elect for a total of $1,970.
■ Paying $5,140 to a food service vendor for daytime meals and snacks for candidates and search committee members. Invoices show requests for “upscale” fruit platters and grilled salmon with citrus beurre blanc.
■ Hiring an outside firm to conduct a compensation study, which the Board of Governors requires the search committee to obtain, for $15,900.
In late February and early March, the finalists spent several days making the rounds in Orlando. In addition to Whittaker, the other hopefuls were Purdue University Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships Suresh Garimella, University of North Dakota President Mark Kennedy and University of Akron President Matt Wilson.
They attended swanky receptions the Citrus Club, where they sipped wine and munched on appetizers such as tuna tartare served on wonton crisps with toasted coconut garnish ($4 per piece), courtesy of the university’s foundation. They also ate in a private room at Hamilton’s Kitchen at the Alfond Inn, which bills itself as private and elegant with “a casual country flare.” After these meals, Marchena said, trustees gathered input from people from the campus and community who dined with the finalists.
Trustees don’t want candidates to feel they’re getting a lukewarm welcome.
“Like any process where you’re hiring a CEO, it’s really not just a one-way dance,” Marchena said. “They’re trying to woo you, but you’re trying to woo them as well. Any of these people can withdraw at any point in the process.”
Spending six figures on a national search for university president isn’t unusual, even for the consultants’ contracts alone. A George Mason University study of 61 contracts with firms in 32 states found that dollar value of the base fees for search firms ranged from $25,000 to $160,000, with an average of about $80,000. The study included searches for presidents, as well as vice presidents, provosts and chancellors at public colleges and universities.
“What you’re finding at Central Florida, while it’s at the high end, is not completely out of range of what we’re seeing now,” said Judith Wilde, chief operating officer of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason, and one of the researchers on the study.
Media reports about other searches also suggest UCF’s bill was on the steep side. For example, Iowa State University, a 36,000-student institution, spent $180,246 on a search that wrapped up in October, the Des Moines Register reported. The Regents there also chose an internal candidate.
On the other hand, the University of Nebraska completed an even costlier search than UCF in 2015, spending $260,000 before hiring Hank Bounds, previously the commissioner of higher education in Mississippi, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
All of these institutions had something in common: They used search firms to help them find candidates. That practice is becoming increasingly common in higher education, Wilde and her colleague, James Finkelstein, a professor emeritus at George Mason, said. They found 92 percent of universities used them for president or chancellor searches in 2015-16, up from 2 percent four decades ago.
The George Mason researchers say they don’t know why more universities are turning to them now, though it might be because the governing boards at many of them are filled with people who work in corporate roles where using headhunters is common.
In Florida, the Board of Governors says public universities may use consultants, but it’s not required.
Marchena said he was “very satisfied,” with Parker, which conducted background checks and made travel arrangements for candidates, in addition to contacting potential applicants and collecting resumes.
But, Finkelstein added, “searches were fine for decades without the use of search firms.”