Miami Dade College enters round two in search for a new president

The next president of Miami Dade College could be a CEO, a politician or even an admiral. They could be a titan of academia or the nonprofit world.

The idea of finding an extraordinary candidate to lead the college with the country’s largest undergraduate class excited the college’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday. That’s when they embarked on a second search to replace Eduardo J. Padron, who retired in August after a half-century tenure at the college.

The first search cost $167,000 and yielded four finalists, all academics, who failed to wow the board. Some of the committee members who led that search called the board’s decision in July to reboot the search after months of work a “travesty.”

The board members hired a new search firm, AGB Search of Washington, D.C., to be paid a third of the next president’s $500,000 salary. AGB had applied to conduct the first search but lost the bid to Diversified Search.

AGB laid out a proposed timeline to find a new successor that coincided with the college’s academic year; the next president would start transitioning into the role around May, the end of the spring semester.

The new search also lines up with the legislative session, which starts Jan. 14 and will entertain a reincarnated bill to exempt details of public college and university presidential searches from Florida’s broad public records laws. That bill was filed by a hometown lawmaker, Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Miami Lakes.

Board chair Bernie Navarro, who led the first search, has repeatedly lamented that Florida’s Sunshine Laws have hindered the search. The bill could become law in the midst of MDC’s search, but the chair said that hasn’t influenced the pace of the search.

The board rehashed the same discussions from the first search. The board again settled on language that preferred candidates with “terminal” degrees, or the highest degree in their field of study. That rhetoric has troubled those who fear political influence, particularly members of the faculty union at MDC.

Board members also grappled with how Lenore Rodicio, the college’s current executive vice president, would fit into the new search. She was one of the finalists in the first search, and the board decided to keep her in the running.

When AGB representatives told the board, “He or she would be treated as all the other candidates are” by having to go through the process again with the search committee, trustee Carlos Migoya corrected them.

“She’s a finalist, not a candidate,“ Migoya said.

Interim president Rolando Montoya suggested that Rodicio should have the opportunity to interview and give a presentation like the other finalists.

“I think the trustees need to have all the information fresh,” he said.

But Montoya on Tuesday recused himself from the search.

“You need to realize that I hired Dr. Rodicio and I was a mentor for many years for Dr. Rodicio,” Montoya said. “And when I retired she basically occupied my position. It would be impossible for me to maintain an objective and neutral position.”

The board looked to hand the search over to trustee Michael Bileca. When he resisted, trustee Nicole Washington accepted the job. She, along with Bileca and trustee Anay Abraham, will form a new search committee of 13 to 15 members. The roster is set to be revealed at the next meeting on Dec. 17.

Navarro, who chaired the first search committee, said some of those members may be interested in serving again. However, some of the members who signed a July 26 letter to the editor condemning the board’s decision to restart the search, said they would not.

AGB will also create a “leadership profile” of its ideal candidate, which will also be revealed Dec. 17. The search firm said it would spend six to eight weeks fielding candidates through its various networks.

Board members did not seem pressed for time, and neither did Montoya, the interim president.

“I would never abandon Miami Dade College if you haven’t finished your homework,” he said.