Boards Steady the Course for New Leaders

Years ago, my presidential colleagues would describe the first few weeks after first arriving on campus as “drinking from a fire hose.” In 2024, incoming college and university presidents often find themselves deluged with something new every hour. No matter their preparation or capacity for absorbing information, new chief executives struggle to steer the institutional ship through unrelenting choppy seas, with storms stretching out against the horizon and no safe harbor in sight. Given the complexity of the new realities all presidents face, it is more important than ever to recognize that governing boards have an important responsibility in helping new presidents sift through the noise, recognize what needs immediate attention and what can wait, and provide whatever introductions are needed to better enable their new leaders to settle in and reach the next oasis of calm.

But what does this support look like? AGB has a trove of resources to help boards understand their obligations to the new presidents who they have hired and in whom they have placed their trust, from facilitating a smooth transition from the outgoing to the incoming president to creating an effective support network to protect the president’s time and attention.

However, one element that too often gets overlooked is the board’s role in providing institutional context. The president will learn a tremendous amount from their faculty and staff to understand the day-to-day challenges they will encounter, but each of those conversations forms a sliver of a whole. It takes a wide lens to encompass the biggest challenges that the president will face—the thorny issues that rise to the level of the board.

As part of their onboarding process, new trustees learn that the board has a responsibility for taking that broad perspective. Given the (hopefully) diverse backgrounds, experiences, and board tenure of each member, the board comes equipped to synthesize those slivers into something approaching comprehensive insight into the largest issues of the day. You might think that presidents at their second or third institution would be the most prepared for a seamless transition, and they certainly have useful wisdom built into their resume, but there is no substitute for having boards, and staff such as the board professional, help the president zero in on the specific nuances that could make or break their tenure.

This is especially true this summer, as the higher education landscape shifts and reacts to what Peter Lake, AGB consultant, has coined the “edupocalypse.” Whether it is fallout from FAFSA, novel financial transparency requirements, demographic declines, campus protests and investigations into campus protests, responding to the new Title IX regulations, challenging the new overtime rule, the ongoing paradigm shift for college athletics (and the endowments that will inevitably pay for it), not to mention the other widely-reported external pressures facing the sector, this is an all-hands-on-deck season for boards as well as presidents and staff.

A couple suggestions for how the board can organize those insights:

1. The board, specifically the transition committee, should discuss with relevant staff what key issues need the board’s attention when they meet with the new president. Does it need to be with the entire committee, or can the president sit down with specific board members to lay out the details? What should be left to senior staff given their closer proximity to the issue, and where do the board and staff need to work together? Develop a checklist of the most important issues that the board needs to provide to the president, and specifically consider the issues where the institution’s context creates nuance.
2. Consider if the board chair or a member of the executive committee should meet regularly with the president for an initial period, between the first 90 days and indefinitely. The board chair is often responsible for setting expectations and mediating disagreements at the board level, and they need to develop a deep and abiding relationship with the president to lead the board effectively.

It should be no surprise to seasoned board members that the challenges facing college and university presidents are taking a toll on presidential tenure. It should also come as no surprise that presidents must absorb a shocking amount of information regularly, and that is doubly true at the beginning of their service. Governing boards are accountable for the success of their institutions, and that means they are accountable for the success of their chosen chief executive. You have the power to help the president navigate the tsunami and come out on the other side stronger.

Mary A. Papazian, PhD, is the executive vice president of AGB.