Most seasoned board chairpersons would tell you that they prefer to promote for top jobs from the inside. Hiring CEOs or presidents from the outside is always a bit of a crap shoot, not matter how much vetting is done.
Candidates who have been groomed for ever-increasing responsibilities inside an organization are known for all their strengths and weaknesses; not true when an outside candidate is picked, no matter how brilliant the resume and how glowing the reference checks; weaknesses are not transparent.
I have batted about 50% when hiring from the outside and seldom miss when hiring a proven performer with a service record in the company.
Why then don’t the University of Wisconsin regents and the board of the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) do the same? Both systems have big farm clubs. And both have positions crucial to Wisconsin. Both have open positions.
The UW Regents need to find a replacement for Mark Mone, chancellor of UW – Milwaukee for the last ten challenging years. The WTCS board needs to find a new president to replace Myrna Foy, who has held the job for 12 years. Both have struggled with sharply declining enrollments.
The UW System has 11 other chancellors to choose from, not counting UWM itself and UW-Madison, which has a relatively new chancellor of its own. The technical college system has a president for each of its 16 districts across the state. Some of them are brilliant in their jobs.
In the UW farm system, the name of UW-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt (pictured left) jumps to mind. He convinced the establishment in the Eau Claire community to go for a $340 million new Science and Health Science Building, and then, backed 100% by local leadership, successfully lobbied the legislature and the governor to give UWEC the funds.
Schmidt has already been highly rated by the board of regents. He was one of two finalists in 2022 for president of the whole UW system. Lawyer Jay Rothman got the job.
The top WTCS position opened up this year when Foy announced her retirement. A WTCS search committee has already narrowed its process to two candidates.
Did it look at the other 15 district presidents? If no, why not? As an example, one innovative president jumps to mind, Dr. Richard Barnhouse (left) of Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC). He has been in that job for four years and early in his career did four years as dean of students at Moraine Park Technical College based on Fond du Lac. He knows the tech college system and would have no learning curve.
Showing an ability to move ahead with the times, he welcomed the move in 2023 of Lakeland College’s Milwaukee campus to his main campus. That means WCTC two-year students can move smoothly into 12 Lakeland baccalaureate programs and four master’s degrees.
He is also trying to help students and staff members transition from UWM at Waukesha, which Rothman and Mone are closing in 2025.
In effect, Barnhouse has created a community college for Waukesha County — offering a baccalaureate track for professional careers and a technology track for other occupations.
A similar attempt to create a community college in Washington County was shot down by Foy and MPTC President Bonnie Baerwald. UWM at Washington County is closed after offering liberal arts education for 56 years. The professors and staff were terminated and the students either went to other colleges or into the job market. A handful may end up in two-year “general studies” at MPTC.
There is still time for the UW Board of Regents and the WTCS board to learn from the success in Waukesha and the failure to consolidate in Washington County as the UW considers the fate of the remaining seven UW colleges across the state.
Indeed, the new Legislative Study Committee on the Future of University of Wisconsin System should look at those two counties as case studies on what to do and what not to do with the remaining seven two-year UW colleges.
Finally, if Rothman and the regents are determined to go outside for the next UWM chancellor, pick a leader in the world of artificial intelligence, which is changing every part of life. How about someone like Bradford Smith, president of Microsoft, a Wisconsin native?
And don’t leave Mone as a lame duck for a year. Get it done!
