MUN president’s term to conclude in December 2019

The Telegram
Memorial University president Gary Kachanoski will finish up his second term at the helm of Memorial University six months earlier than originally planned.

 The university’s Board of Regents has agreed to Kachanoski’s request to conclude his second five-year term in December 2019 instead of June 2020. As a result, the board of regents will start the search for a new president.

Iris Petten, chairwoman of the university’s governing board, made the announcement following a special meeting of the regents Thursday..

Petten thanked Kachanoski for his continuing leadership of the university as president and vice-chancellor since 2010.
“Gary Kachanoski has provided exceptional leadership to Memorial University,” Petten said in a news release. “His visionary approach to delivering on the university’s commitments to our province and his tremendous financial planning acumen are extraordinary. By the time his terms ends in 2019, he will have led our university successfully through almost 10 years that have been both invigorating and challenging.”
“I have been privileged and honoured to serve as the president of this great university,” Kachanoski said.

He was recruited in 2009.
“I am deeply grateful to the regents, university leaders and colleagues throughout the university community for their collaboration and commitment to advancing the institution, as well as to alumni, government, donors and community leaders for their support,” he said.

“I believe it is the right time now for the university to engage with our internal and external communities in a collegial and consultative presidential search process. A presidential search is a normal renewal activity that prompts the university and the wider community to consider the university’s future.”

He plans become a professor at Memorial.

 “My wife Teresa and I will continue to make our home in this province, which is such a welcoming and stimulating place to live and work,” he said.
The presidential search process will commence at the board’s next regular meeting on Oct. 3. The process is expected to take 12-14 months.

“We had been planning to get the search process underway in January 2019,” Petten said. “But now we’ll move up the schedule a few months to ensure that we have plenty of time to recruit the best possible candidate to lead the university in the next decade. Having a new president recruited by late fall 2019 will align well with the university’s planning and budget cycles.”

Presidential searches at Memorial  usually start with selecting a search committee.

The biography and employment contracts of the university’s president are available on the webpage of the Office of the President.