From MinnState Press Release:
Three finalists to participate in open forums for employees and students on Feb. 27 and 28.
ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 22 2018 – Minnesota State has named the finalists under consideration to become the next chancellor. They are:
- Ricardo Azziz has served the State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration since 2016 as chief officer, academic health and hospital affairs. He also serves as a senior fellow at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education Pullias Center for Higher Education, a position he has held since 2015. Previously, he was the founding president of Georgia Regents University (now Augusta University) from 2012 to 2015; president of Georgia Health Sciences University from 2010 to 2012; and founding chief executive officer of the Georgia Regents Health System from 2010 to 2015. At the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine from 2007 to 2010, he served as assistant dean for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CTS) and deputy director of the UCLA CTS Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, two master’s degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and an MD from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine.
- Neal Cohen served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of ATK (NYSE: ATK) from 2012 to 2015. Previously, he was president and chief operating officer for Laureate Education from 2008 to 2011. He served Northwest Airlines between 1991 and 2008 in several capacities, including executive vice president of strategy and international; chief executive officer of regional operations; and executive vice president and chief financial officer. He also served US Airways as executive vice president and chief financial officer from 2002 to 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s from the University of Chicago.
- Van Ton-Quinlivan serves as executive vice chancellor of workforce and digital futures for the 114 California Community Colleges after joining the system in 2011 as vice chancellor of workforce and economic development. From 2006 to 2011, she served at Pacific Gas & Electric as director of workforce and economic development and special assistant to the chairman and CEO. Prior to that, she held a variety of management roles across public, private, and entrepreneurial enterprises, and taught at DeAnza College (CA). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and dual master’s degrees from Stanford University.
The candidates are scheduled to visit the system office February 27 and February 28 for interviews with members of the Board of Trustees, the college and university presidents, and members of the chancellor’s cabinet. Each candidate will also participate in an open forum for employees and students. Details of the visits and the process for providing feedback are available at the Chancellor Search web page.
The chancellor search has been led by a search advisory committee comprised of students, faculty, staff, and community leaders and chaired by Scott Peterson, executive vice president and chief human resources officer of Schwan’s Company.
“We have been very pleased with the talented and diverse slate of candidates that were attracted to this critical role,” said Peterson, “and we look forward to completing the search process.”
The chancellor is the chief executive officer of the Minnesota State system and has full executive responsibility for higher education leadership and effective management and operation of the system. The chancellor’s responsibilities include implementing board policy; providing for academic leadership including making recommendations to the board for college and university presidents and cabinet members; recommending operating and capital budgets; recommending allocation of resources; systemwide planning; oversight of collective bargaining; coordinating enterprise-wide information systems; management of personnel resources; and annual evaluation of the college and university presidents. The chancellor works in close collaboration with the system’s Leadership Council comprised of the chancellor’s cabinet and the presidents of the colleges and universities.