University of South Florida Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford today shared an update on the search to identify the ninth president in university history.
Weatherford announced that Mike Griffin, Board of Trustees vice chair, co-head of Florida Region and vice chairman of Savills, and a USF alum, has agreed to serve as chair of the Presidential Search Committee. Griffin chaired the committee during USF’s previous search in 2021-22. Weatherford said that the community input Griffin received, and knowledge gained during the last process, including holding nearly 40 listening sessions with various stakeholder groups, will give the university a significant head start in this search.
Joining Griffin on the search committee will be:
- Charbel Barakat — USF Board of Trustees; general counsel, D.R. Horton, Inc.
- Derrick Brooks — Board member, EVP Corporate and Community Development, Vinik Sports Group; motivational speaker; NFL Hall of Famer; board member, Kforce, Inc.; president and founder, Derrick Brooks Charities
- Sandra “Sandy” Callahan — USF Board of Trustees; former chief financial officer, TECO Energy
- John Couris — President and CEO, Tampa General Hospital
- Alexa Grubbs — USF third-year student, Judy Genshaft Honors College
- Oscar Horton — USF Board of Trustees; president and chief executive officer, Sun State International Trucks
- Ken Jones — Florida Board of Governors; founder and managing partner, Third Lake Partners
- Merritt Martin — USF Foundation Board of Directors; vice president, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications; chief of staff, External Affairs, Moffitt Cancer Center
- Andrew “Andy” Mayts, Jr. — USF Financing Corp. and USF Property Corp; partner, Public Sector co-chair, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
- Harold “Hal” Mullis — Past chair, USF Board of Trustees; president, Trenam Law; Board of Governors designee
- Jenifer Jasinski Schneider — Interim dean, USF College of Education; professor, USF College of Education Literacy Studies
- Debbie Sembler — USF St. Petersburg Campus Board; vice chair, USF Foundation Board of Directors
- Sylvia Wilson Thomas — USF vice president for Research & Innovation; president & CEO of the USF Research Foundation, Inc.; professor of engineering
- Andrea Gonzmart Williams — USF Foundation Board of Directors; fifth-generation owner and operator, Columbia Restaurant Group
“This outstanding group is committed to the future success of the University of South Florida, the Tampa Bay region and the state of Florida, and reflects broad representation from the university’s key stakeholder groups, including our students, faculty, alumni, partners and community business leaders,” Weatherford said. “As we embark on the next chapter in the history of our great university, there are many reasons for us to be excited about USF’s trajectory. I firmly believe that USF’s best days are ahead.”
To assist the committee, USF has retained the services of SP&A Executive Search, a highly regarded firm that worked with the university in its last presidential search.
USF will follow the process required by the State University System’s Board of Governors regulation for presidential searches. The committee is advisory and will be responsible for recommending a small number of qualified candidates to the USF Board of Trustees, which will then interview the finalists and select the next president, pending final confirmation from the Board of Governors.
“I am extremely grateful to our search committee for agreeing to make the significant commitment to serve as we look for the best possible candidate to become the ninth president in University of South Florida history,” Griffin said. “Each committee member brings a different perspective to the process, but they all share a common goal of helping USF continue to pursue excellence and build on our momentum as one of America’s leading research universities.”
USF has launched a presidential search website that will be used to share updates, including information about upcoming opportunities for the community to provide input on the search.