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9/7/2017 - Committee Announces Presidential Leadership Profile

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September 7, 2017

Dear W&M Community,

We write with another update on the progress of the William & Mary Presidential Search Committee.

Since our last message earlier this summer, the committee has continued to focus its greatest attention on reaching out to all parts of our university community to hear your thoughts on what we should seek in William & Mary’s 28th president. Committee members have now hosted more than 150 listening sessions throughout the country, involving nearly 1,600 people. Hundreds of emails and submissions have been received via the presidential search website.

Over the past several weeks, regular updates were posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as we sought to offer even more ways for members of the community to provide input. To follow updates about the search on social media, please look for the #wmPresident hashtag.

As we mentioned in a previous update, identifying the best person to lead our university requires broad participation in the process, and the W&M community responded. Your willingness to engage and share ideas in-person and online has been crucial.

The committee, informed by your input, has developed a leadership profile – essentially a job description and statement of our aspirations for the future of the university. It tells our W&M story to prospective candidates as well as what we seek in our next president. We are proud to present this leadership profile as a summary of what we have learned and heard.

We will now shift our attention toward identifying, recruiting and vetting potential candidates with the assistance of our search firm, Witt-Kieffer. Advertisements for the position will soon be placed in print and online, and nominations will be accepted until mid-November. If you would like to nominate someone for the position, please do so at williamandmarypresident@wittkieffer.com.

Confidentiality is critical to this phase of the process in order to attract a highly qualified pool of candidates, many of whom are likely to already hold significant leadership positions. However, if you have additional ideas or suggestions to share with us, please continue to do so via email at [[presidentialsearch]].

Again, thank you for your participation in this vitally important process to the future success of William & Mary.

Best regards,

H. Thomas Watkins III '74, P '05, P '11

Vice Rector and Chair
Presidential Search Committee

Todd A. Stottlemyer '85, P '16

Rector and Vice Chair
Presidential Search Committee