The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees will be exploring the possibility of locking down Interim President Randy Boyd permanently in the coming weeks, Board Chairman John Compton announced Wednesday.
After a discussion of his positive annual performance evaluation at the board's annual winter meeting in Chattanooga, Compton suggested the board not conduct a search for a new candidate but instead explore appointing Boyd to a five-year term starting in November.
"Based on the incredibly positive feedback from the review process, I would like to recommend that we establish a process to look at removing the interim title and extend Randy's title for five years," Compton told his fellow trustees.
The board's bylaws allow the chairperson to make a recommendation to the board when the chairperson determines it is appropriate to conduct a search for a candidate, Compton told Boyd after the discussion, but "the chair has determined that there was no need to do a search."
"We wanted to make sure the board and all the stakeholders of this decision were aligned to that view, and after a lengthy discussion what we've heard from stakeholders is "Let's not switch leaders right now because we have so many good things underway that you should consider [sticking] with the leader you have," Compton said.
The board unanimously appointed Boyd to the interim role in September 2018, after former President Joe DiPietro announced his retirement. Boyd, a Knoxville businessman and former gubernatorial candidate, took over as leader of the system in November 2018, agreeing to a 24-month term.
But Boyd has hinted his interest in serving in the role more permanently, Compton told the board Wednesday at the meeting in Chattanooga - the first held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in three years.
Instead of a search, the system plans to "put Randy on the road" in the upcoming weeks for a series of campus visits to seek feedback from chancellors, faculty and students on the appointment.
Trustees noted Boyd's enthusiasm and the significance of the work that he has already accomplished in the role, including the launch of the UT Promise program and the relationships he has with lawmakers and Gov. Bill Lee.
Board trustee Bill Rhodes, president and CEO of AutoZone, said Boyd's business approach to leading the state's flagship university system made him the right person for the job.
"Part of the reconstitution of the board was to bring some business principles to higher education. - As we think about the president's role, it's very different than [a] chancellor's role. In the notion of trying to use business principles, if each of us had top-quality feedback like what we heard today, there's not a chance in the world that we would do a search, we would say we have the top person in the job," Rhodes said. "Let's put the person in the job and go."
Kim White, CEO of River City Company in Chattanooga and local board trustee, echoed Rhodes.
"With what Randy has done, he's been very open. He's brought a business sense to the university system that I think in a way has elevated expectations and the big goals that he's really pulling everyone together on - I think we were in a very fortunate place to have someone of his caliber with his love for the university who has worked real hard, so we've thrilled to have him here," White said.
Both trustees Decosta Jenkins, president and CEO of Nashville Electric Service, and Alan Wilson, former president of McCormick and Company, hinted in their remarks during the discussion of Boyd's evaluation that they had been under pressure by stakeholders to remove the "interim" from Boyd's title.
Rhodes did acknowledge that the only question was how the broader community felt about it.
Compton said the board would put together a framework for the process and that he intended to call a special meeting sometime in the coming weeks after Boyd's campus visits to officially appoint him as system president.
The university's communications team is already putting together a schedule of visits for the first week of March when Boyd will make his case for the permanent position.
After the meeting, UTC Chancellor Steve Angle praised the board's decision.
"I think the board is being very thoughtful, the amount of feedback and the work that they've done to get input is maybe unprecedented, and I think now the opportunity for him to come to the campuses where people are understanding that this is an opportunity for people to give feedback will allow him to have a real mandate to lead the University of Tennessee in the future," Angle said.
Angle also noted that UT Promise, a last-dollar scholarship program for students who come from families that make $50,000 or less a year, has been pivotal for UTC.
"I think the UTC Promise scholarship program to look at financially challenged students and opening doors for them is huge for the system and huge for us at UTC," Angle said.
Boyd said he can't imagine a better way to serve the state.
"I've discovered over the last 14 months and 22 days that if you want to serve the state of Tennessee and the people of Tennessee, there's no better place than the University of Tennessee," he told the Times Free Press. "I've been blessed to be in a position where I can spend the rest of my life giving back, and if you want to give back you want to give back in the place you will be the most effective."
Boyd is the founder of Radio Systems Corp., a Knoxville company that produces invisible fences and other pet products that has more than 700 employees and $400 million in annual revenue.
He took a yearlong leave of absence in 2013 to serve as an adviser to former Gov. Bill Haslam, helping him create education initiatives such as the Tennessee Promise program for free tuition at state community colleges. In December 2014, Haslam named Boyd the next state economic and community development commissioner, a post he filled until January 2017.
Boyd also was an architect of Haslam's Drive to 55 initiative, which is aimed at increasing the number of Tennesseans with a post-secondary degree or certificate to 55 percent by 2025.
Staff writer Andy Sher contributed to this story.
Contact Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.