This story has been updated to reflect the most recent reporting.
Correction appended.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis has been selected as the new managing principal for AGB Search and will assume the position March 1.
His final day at OU will be Feb. 17., and the Board of Trustees is expected to name an interim president at the board’s Jan. 20 meeting in Athens.
McDavis is the second alumnus and first African-American to serve as OU president.
AGB Search focuses on higher education leadership, conducting executive searches in partnership with colleges, universities, systems, boards and related foundations across the country. The firm is in Washington, D.C.
“This opportunity with AGB Search came forward faster than I expected it to and Deborah and I did not feel it was a position I could turn down,” McDavis said in a news release. “I would not have accepted this position if I did not have the full support of the Board of Trustees or if I felt it would negatively impact or destabilize the university in any way. We have a very strong team in place from faculty to staff, administrators, deans, and executive leadership and the university is poised in a very strong position of continued success.”
He announced in March he would step down from his position as OU president when his contract expires June 30. He started his presidency in July 2004 and is currently earning $500,000 for the 2016-17 academic year.
McDavis previously served as a professor, dean and administrator at the University of Florida and Virginia Commonwealth University.
OU is currently conducting its own presidential search and hopes to select a new president by March 2017. The search committee will meet Monday and Tuesday in Dublin to continue the search process.
Board of Trustees Chair David Wolfort said in a news release that he does not expect McDavis leaving the position early to affect the search process.
“The Board of Trustees has been well prepared for this development,” Wolfort said in the release. “I foresee no changes in our search timetable and look forward to the inauguration of the twenty-first president of Ohio University.”
— Megan Henry contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly named the search firm that hired President McDavis. The article has been updated with the most accurate information.
