Committee discusses filling open Board of Regents seats; geographic, academic experience and appointment rules noted

Members of the CSCU Board of Regents Governance and Nominating Committee discussed strategies for filling several open regent positions, emphasizing geographic representation, specific skills and the difference between recommending names and making appointments.

Committee members said they have identified gaps in geographic representation — the northeastern region of Connecticut was cited as not currently represented — and noted that the departure of Jim McCarthy leaves Ira as the only regent with named academic experience on the board. Members discussed seeking candidates with academic experience, board experience, and readiness to adopt a governance (trustee) perspective rather than an executive operational orientation.

Speakers recommended informal solicitation of candidate suggestions from other regents rather than a formal public recruitment process, and suggested using a matrix to map current regents’ expertise, term expirations and geographic distribution to identify priority needs. Adam, who previously served in the Lamont administration, described the governor’s appointment and vetting process: the committee can recommend names to the governor’s office, which will conduct its own vetting; three of the four legislative-appointed seats are currently filled and there is one legislative vacancy. The committee reviewed statutory constraints noted in the meeting that apply to certain seats: legislative appointments have prescribed affiliations or alumni requirements (examples cited: alumni of Connecticut State Universities, community college system, Charter Oak, and K–12 representation).

Committee members also discussed board onboarding and the value of recruiting candidates with prior board or trustee experience to shorten the learning curve. Terry from the Association of Governing Boards recommended considering whether a smaller slate of regents coordinate private recommendations to the governor to encourage alignment and preexisting working relationships. Several members flagged external uncertainty around diversity-related guidance that had been issued in recent federal “dear colleague” letters and said they were monitoring guidance with counsel.

The committee invited informal recommendations from regents and planned to develop a matrix of skills and representation to guide future suggestions to appointing authorities.