UNC-Chapel Hill has inked a contract with R. William Funk and Associates, a Dallas-based headhunter who will be paid $90,000 plus reimbursement for expenses related to the process, Jane Stancill reports.
The panel interviewed three consultants during a marathon session Oct. 16. They settled on Bill Funk, who is well known in higher education circles and was dubbed "the matchmaker" in a Chronicle of Higher Education cover story in 2005. He has conducted more than 250 searches in higher education, including searches for 70 sitting presidents, he said.
Funk said he would visit the campus and talk to key groups to find out what the university needs in its next leader. During the interview, he promised to deliver impressive candidates. "We're looking for a big-time player," he said.
More after the jump.
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The consultant is already conducting a high-profile search for the University of California system president. Funk agreed not to initiate another major university president or chancellor search for three months after starting UNC-CH's search or until the committee makes an initial cut from the candidate pool, whichever comes first.
He also agreed to a hands-off provision, promising not to solicit the person hired as UNC-CH's chancellor for five years from the date he or she takes office.
Funk beat out two other firms: Washington-based John DiBiaggio of Academic Search Consultation Service and Media, Pennsylvania-based Shelly Storbeck of Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates.
The search committee was impressed with Storbeck's experience and credentials, but some members thought her firm might be stretched too thin. And there was one other negative, they said: Storbeck wore a Duke blue scarf to the interview.
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