The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has dropped its presidential search firm after the company signed on with another Big Ten school.
Regents hired Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates in August after Eric Kaler said he would retire in June 2019 following his eighth year as U president.
But Michigan State University last week announced that it, too, would hire Storbeck/Pimentel for its own presidential search.
That move “created significant concern as to potential confusion for candidates,” according to a message posted Wednesday to the U’s presidential search webpage.
Storbeck/Pimentel, which has offices near Los Angeles and Philadelphia, also led the 2016 search for Steven Rosenstone’s successor as chancellor of the Minnesota State higher education system. Trustees declined to hire any of the three suggested finalists.
Some regents complained in August that they weren’t aware the same firm behind Minnesota State’s failed search was about to get their business. The contract called for payments totaling $224,000 plus the cost of travel, advertising and background checks.
Storbeck/Pimentel will have its expenses reimbursed but has agreed to return its fee.
Regents said they’ve replaced the firm with Washington D.C.-based AGB Search — created by the nonprofit Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges — which will get $150,000 plus expenses.
AGB’s website lists nine other clients searching for a president but none anywhere near the size of the U.
“We did not make this decision lightly,” regents Chairman David McMillan said in a written statement. “We needed a firm dedicated to finding the next great leader of the University of Minnesota.”
McMillan said the change will not slow down the search.