Search for UI president will cost $90,000
Firm gets one-third of first-year salary
MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho’s search for a president will cost at least $90,000 – a process the State Board of Education expects to take six months to a year.
Tim White resigned the presidency earlier this year to accept a job at the University of California-Riverside.
UI Vice President of Finance and Administration Lloyd Mues signed a contract with the Los Angeles-based executive search firm Korn/Ferry International in June. In 2004, the university spent $98,440 on its search for White and about 74 percent of those costs went to Korn/Ferry, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports.
The firm charges a fee equal to one-third of the projected first-year salary of the position it recruits for, according to a copy of the contract the Daily News obtained through a public records request.
That means the university will owe the firm an estimated $90,000, or one-third of the expected $270,000 salary of the incoming president. That amount doesn’t include traveling costs the university will also have to pay the firm when it begins consulting with potential candidates.
The State Board of Education has appointed a university dean, Steven Daley-Laursen, as temporary president.
While the board will ultimately select the new president, the university will foot the bill for the search.
Board member Paul Agidius, co-chair of the presidential search committee, said the board does not budget money for presidential searches because these costs are considered unexpected expenses.
The money will come from a university budget for the president’s office, UI spokeswoman Joni Kirk said.