The University of Illinois Board of Trustees today released the leadership profile for the system’s next president, formally launching the national search for the 21st leader of one of the country's premier public university systems.
The profile, available on the presidential search website, will guide the board of trustees, the search committee and the executive search firm AGB Search as they accept applications and evaluate candidates from across the country and around the world. The board’s goal is to conclude the search by the end of the 2026 calendar year.
The system’s next president will succeed Tim Killeen, who announced he will step down June 30 after more than a decade of transformative leadership.
“Few leadership roles in American higher education carry the opportunity and responsibility embodied in the presidency of the University of Illinois System,” said Jesse Ruiz, chair of the board of trustees. “This role is one of stewardship and possibility. Our next president will assume leadership of a system with extraordinary strength and momentum, and will have the opportunity to build on that legacy while helping define what comes next for public higher education.”
The newly released profile describes a president whose leadership extends across the system and engages far beyond it. The board is seeking a leader who will champion students, faculty and staff while serving as an active partner to communities, employers, industry leaders, alumni, donors, state leaders and other stakeholders throughout Illinois, advancing the system’s mission of educating, creating knowledge and putting that knowledge to work for the state and the world.
The profile also highlights the distinctive nature of the University of Illinois System. Anchored by a globally recognized flagship university in Urbana-Champaign, one of the nation’s leading urban public research universities in Chicago, and the state’s capital-city university in Springfield, the system brings together three unique universities and system-level initiatives with a collective scale, reach and impact greater than the sum of its parts. The system educates 53% of all undergraduates attending public universities in Illinois, keeps 74% of its graduates in the state after graduation, reaches all 102 Illinois counties and generates $24.9 billion in annual economic impact.
The profile was shaped by input from faculty, staff, students and community members gathered through town halls at all three universities and public feedback throughout the process.
“This profile carries the voices of our community, and that is its strength,” Ruiz said. “I am confident it will attract a strong, diverse and eminently qualified field of candidates prepared to lead this system into its next chapter.”
The full leadership profile is available here, where updates will be shared throughout the search.
