Two candidates are in the running to take over as president of Wisconsin's system of 16 publicly funded technical colleges, the largest higher education system in the state.
The Wisconsin Technical College System Board on Tuesday announced two finalists for the presidential position: Robert Griggs and Layla Merrifield. Both have years of experience with technical college system operations, though neither have held presidential positions directly with a Wisconsin technical college.
The next president will oversee the system of technical colleges statewide that offer two-year degrees, technical diplomas, adult education courses and dual credit for high schoolers earning college credits, among other programs. Those 16 two-year colleges receive more than $625 million in annual state funding and, last year, educated nearly 288,000 students.
The 13-person, mostly governor-appointed public board overseeing the Wisconsin Technical College System plans to hold final interviews with Griggs and Merrifield in August. To select the two finalists, a presidential search committee narrowed a pool of 30 applicants to six finalists, then held initial interviews with five after one dropped out.
The board overseeing the presidential search did not contract with an executive search firm, instead opting to post the job position nationally.
The new president will replace Morna Foy, who announced her retirement in March after serving as president since 2012. Foy has been with the technical college system in various roles since 1998.
“I am delighted that our national search yielded a wealth of exceptional candidates,” Mark Tyler, chair of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board, said in a prepared statement. “This is an important position within Wisconsin’s educational landscape. The incoming president will steer our state’s largest higher education system toward a promising next chapter."
About the candidates
Robert Griggs
- Current position: President of Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the past eight years
- Former positions: Griggs spent 16 years in various leadership roles at Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College in Minnesota
- Degrees: Bachelor's degree in political science, J.D. law degree from the University of North Dakota
Layla Merrifield
- Current position: Executive director of the Wisconsin Technical College District Board Association, which represents trustees of the district boards for each of Wisconsin's 16 technical colleges, since 2015
- Former positions: Fiscal analyst for the Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau; policy advisor for Wisconsin Technical College System
- Degrees: Bachelor's degree in politics from Hendrix College in Arkansas
Cleo Krejci covers higher education, vocational training and retraining as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. Support her work with a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/RFADonation.
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