The University of Florida Board of Trustees voted unanimously to select executive search firm SP&A Executive Search to lead the nationwide search for UF’s next president.
The vote means the board will negotiate a contract with SP&A. The firm will not be retained until after the presidential search committee is announced, which is expected within the next week.
“Our goal is to select the best president for the University of Florida,” Board Chair Mori Hosseini said. “We’re going after the most successful people who can lead our university to the next level.”
SP&A, which is a woman- and minority-owned firm, was one of four firms the board considered. The other three were Isaacson Miller, Spencer Stuart and R. William Funk & Associates. The four firms were sourced by UF Human Resources and interviewed by Board of Trustees Vice Chair Tom Kuntz, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Charlie Lane, and Vice President and General Counsel Amy Hass.
SP&A recently led successful presidential searches for the University of Central Florida and Florida State University as well as the search for the chancellor of the University of California system.
Fuchs, who has been president since 2015, announced in January that he was transitioning from president to professor in his home department of electrical and computer engineering.
