Following President Scott Green’s Sept. 9 announcement of retirement in June 30, 2027, a search committee has been formed to select the next president.
Based on Idaho law, the search committee must include a minimum of two state board members, two university employees, one of them being a faculty member, two alumni, one member of the institution’s foundation, and one at large community member. The selected board is comprised of Shawn Keough, Pete Kohler, Chandra Zenner Ford, Mya Pronschinske Groza, Bill Gilbert, Phil Reberger, Clint Marshall, Mary Hasenoehrl, and Dave Whitehead.
As well as being the search committee chair, Shawn Keough is a member of the board of education and was previously a 22 year Representative in the Idaho state Senate for District 1, which includes Moscow. She has a bachelor’s degree from Lewis Clark State College in business and social/political science.
Search committee vice chair Pete Koehler has been on the Idaho State Board of Education for a year now. Before being on the board, Koehler worked in education as the senior deputy superintendent and chief of staff at the Idaho State Department of Education, as well as serving 21 years in the U.S. Army. He also holds a degree from UI.
Chandra Zenner Ford is the current senior associate to president Green, as well as the center executive officer of operations in UI’s Boise and Southwest centers. Ford has also worked for UI previously as Assistant Dean for the College of Business and Economics, as well as the executive special assistant of strategic incentives.
Mya Pronschinske Groza is the Associate Dean and professor of Marketing through the College of Business and Economics. Groza also serves on the UI strategic planning council, and chairs the University Budget and Finance Committee.
Bill Gilbert is a member of the Idaho State Board of Education, and a UI graduate. Gilbert is the co-founder and co-CEO of multi-family office investment firm Caprock, and was the former chairman of the board and emeritus director of the University of Idaho Foundation.
Phil Reberger is a partner with the government relations and lobbying firm Sullivan and Reberger, has previously served as chief of staff for former Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne. Reberger has a bachelor’s degree of science in Business from UI and is a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Vietnam.
Clint Marshall is the current chair of the board of directors at the UI Foundation, a position he has held for ten years. He graduated class of 97’ with a bachelor’s in business and accounting.
Mary Hasenoehrl is the director of college advancement at Lewis-Clark State College, as well as the owner of GKH farms, and partner of Gross Farms. She is a 4th generation potato farmer and was the first woman to represent potato growers on the Idaho Potato Commission.
Dave Whitehead is the presidentof Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), and has worked with the company in assorted roles since 1994, starting as a hardware engineer. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Washington State University with a master’s degree from Rensselaer Hartwood Graduate Center. He also holds an honorary doctorate of engineering from UI.
More information about the search timeline, as well as process has not been released yet. Updates will be published on the UI presidential search webpage.
Josie Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected].