March 26, 2009

To: The Trinity University Community

I am very pleased to report that the search committee has engaged Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates to assist it in the search for a new president of Trinity University.   Storbeck/Pimentel brings an impressive track record of successful presidential searches, including searches for Swarthmore, Middlebury, and Wake Forest.  Storbeck/Pimentel is a minority and female owned business and, as such, will further evidence Trinity’s commitment to a diverse candidate pool.  Shelly Weiss Storbeck, who is the Managing Partner and co-owner of Storbeck/Pimentel, will be the lead consultant on the assignment.  In order to gain additional insight into Trinity,
Ms. Storbeck will come to campus next week to meet with representatives from all campus constituencies.

The search committee spent a day and a half interviewing search firms before selecting Storbeck/Pimentel.  These interviews gave the committee valuable insight into current best practices with respect to presidential searches for institutions such as Trinity.  While the search committee is striving for the selection process to be as inclusive and participatory as possible, particularly during the early stages, best practices suggest that confidentiality in the latter stages of the search may be essential to retain the best candidates.  As the search proceeds, difficult choices may have to be made between transparency and retaining candidates. If this occurs, the committee will give priority to ensuring that the Board of Trustees has the strongest possible candidates from which to choose.  Finalists will be introduced to the campus community only if this does not compromise their candidacy.

On behalf of the committee, I want to thank you for your sincere and thoughtful letters and encourage anyone who would like to contribute thoughts about the search process to continue to do so. Comments may be sent electronically to presidentialsearch@trinity.edu. Updates and other pertinent information will be shared via periodic memos as well as posts to the presidential search Web site at www.trinity.edu/presidentialsearch.

We appreciate and value all input from the Trinity community.

Sincerely,

J.R. Hurd, Chair
Presidential Search Committee

Mr. John R. (J.R.) Hurd, Hurd Enterprises, LTD, 7373 Broadway, Suite 200, San Antonio, TX 78209
Mr. George C. (Tim) Hixon, Hixon Properties, 315 East Commerce St., Suite 300, San Antonio, TX 78205.