During Tuesday’s first meeting of the Iowa State University presidential search committee, members of the ISU community, alongside state officials and search consultants, began crafting a list of qualities of a future university president.
The committee includes faculty and staff representatives, students and alumni from ISU, as well as Iowa Board of Regents members. They are working with board staff and presidential search firm AGB Search to first identify the type of candidates they want the position to attract, review candidates and select those that would serve best in the role that will be left vacant by Wendy Wintersteen in January 2026.
“The hiring of a university president is the most important thing the board does, and your work will be critical in identifying the best possible finalists for the board to consider,” Board President Sherry Bates told committee members during the meeting. “Your efforts will be rewarded when we hire the next great leader for Iowa State.”
AGB Search Managing Principal Rodrick McDavis, who previously spoke with the regents on best practices for a collegiate presidential search, provided the committee with a tentative, “very, very, very tight” timeline that would have the search wrapped up by the board’s November meeting.
With the first presidential search committee completed, McDavis said the next step is to conduct listening sessions with campus stakeholders throughout mid-July ahead of the July 23 official search launch. At that point, the position will be posted online and advertised, and search consultants will begin recruiting candidates.
The “best consideration” deadline for applications is set for Sept. 19, three days after which the search committee will gain access to documents to start reviewing candidates, McDavis said. The committee will meet the week of Oct. 6 to choose semifinalists from the pool of candidates and develop interview questions that they will have the opportunity to ask during interviews Oct. 20.
From those interviews, finalists will be selected and their names will be released one-by-one 24 hours ahead of their campus visits, scheduled for the week of Nov. 3.
“The goal of our process is that the board of regents will be in a position to make its selection of a president-elect at the board meetings that will occur on November the 11th through the 13th,” McDavis said.
The group recorded a long list of qualities, skills and experiences they’d like to see in candidates, including political savvy, an entrepreneurial spirit, relatability and the capacity to make difficult decisions.
ISU Professional and Scientific Council President-Elect Jennifer Schroeder said candidates need to be able to communicate and collaborate both internally, across ISU’s colleges and departments, and externally on all levels.
“They need to go from speaking to a student in poverty, coming in first-gen, all the way up to a multi-millionaire businessman in the industry and everything in between, and being able to adjust their approach so that they are relatable they feel genuine to the person they’re speaking with,” Schroeder said.
All of the chosen qualifiers will be used to create a leadership profile, McDavis said, that once reviewed by the committee and board of regents, will be sent across the country for potential applicants.
During the meeting, committee members expressed the need for the future ISU president to have at least an appreciation and understanding of — if not actual experience in — higher education and all that comes with it: research, shared governance, building community and business relationships, and the wants and needs of students, staff and faculty.
ISU’s unique attributes as a land grant university with the Ames National Laboratory and the ISU Research Park should be emphasized as critical aspects of the university’s identity and operations, members said, and should also be recognized by candidates.
Janice Fitzgerald, a senior executive search consultant with ABG Search, said it is these qualities that will intrigue potential candidates, with Rod adding that there are people across the U.S. who are waiting for a position like this to open up for them.
“Iowa State has unique characteristics, and it’s going to be very attractive to individuals,” Fitzgerald said. “Every university or college has a personality, and Iowa State has always been upscale and welcoming, so that is also going to be very attractive to candidates and advocates.”
Suggestions by the search consultants for criteria to think about in a candidate included their level of degree and their plans for and experience with both enrollment and crisis management. McDavis said good candidates should also be able to both visualize and implement a strategic plan.
The group also brainstormed challenges ISU and higher education are facing, including the enrollment cliff, lost or uncertain federal funding and more.
Roger Underwood, an ISU alum on the committee, said the problems faced by ISU right now like research funding being cut are “nickels and dimes” compared to what’s coming — U.S. Social Security “going upside down” after 2032 and states having to absorb more costs relating to Medicare and Medicaid. He said the state, which only funds around one-third of university budgets through appropriations, could pull back funding even more.
“I think it’s going to be a rare bird out there, that we’re going to find that person that can balance the three-to-five year plan but can also look out well beyond that and then sell that back to all the groups represented here, which are going to be dramatic, dramatic changes, not incremental,” Underwood said.
Members of the Iowa State University presidential search committee met on July 1, 2025 to discuss qualities they want to see in candidates. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
