Dartmouth's Board of Trustees has retained the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to advise the College's presidential search committee in its hunt for the College's next president, according to an e-mail sent to the Dartmouth community by Board Chairman Ed Haldeman '70 and Trustee Al Mulley '70 Wednesday afternoon. The Board first made the announcement at a meeting with the Alumni Council on Saturday, the e-mail said. The firm's founder, John Isaacson '68, will lead the firm's search efforts.
"I have rarely felt so privileged," Isaacson said, according to the College's Office of Public Affairs. "Dartmouth was enormously important to me as a young man from a small mill town in central Maine. Dartmouth changed my life."
Isaacson is currently abroad and could not be reached for comment, according to his assistant.
The Boston-based firm has had a hand in presidential searches at Brown University, Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, the Office of Public Affairs said.
Executive search firms aided the last two searches for the College's president, Mulley, who heads the search committee, said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.
Mulley and Haldeman could not be reached for comment by press time.
It is common for colleges to use executive search consultants to aid the presidential search process, Mulley said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth. The important question is not whether to hire a consultant, but how to utilize the consultant once hired, Mulley said.
"The members of the search committee play the principal role, while the consultant acts as the consultant," he said.
Issacson, Miller usually splits search processes into five stages, according to the firm's web site. The firm first works to understand the history of the organization involved and the qualities that define the open position. The firm then relies on networking "to cast as wide a net as possible to assemble a deep and diverse candidate pool." While networking, the firm makes "a concerted effort to reach and interest qualified women and people of color."
During the third stage of the search process, the firm conducts interviews with candidates and then recommends between four and eight candidates for the institution to interview.
Issacson, Miller then checks references and, if asked, offers the institution its opinions on the candidates.
The firm is currently aiding searches for non-presidential positions at Princeton University, Stanford University and Cornell University.
Issacson, Miller has a history of aiding searches for institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations. Isaacson founded the firm in 1982 after leaving public service, according to the company's web site.
"By the end of his years of public service, [Isaacson] had benefited from working with a number of colleagues who had gone on to prestigious careers in higher education, academic medicine, public authorities and national foundations," the web site states.
The firm is also currently engaged in searches involving the College Board and the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Dartmouth Board of Trustees is on track to announce the successor to current College President James Wright next spring, Mulley told The Dartmouth on Friday, and will reveal the membership of the search committee in June.
The committee will meet over the summer to prepare a leadership statement, which will aim to outline a vision for the College and the challenges and opportunities that will face Dartmouth's next president, according to Mulley.
