Donald J. Edwards was unanimously re-elected Thursday to a third one-year term as chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees during its annual organizational meeting.
Trustees, who met virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also approved several other measures.
Edwards is an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who has served as a trustee since 2017. The Chicago resident is CEO of Flexpoint Ford, a Chicago-based private equity investment firm he founded in 2004 that manages approximately $4 billion in assets. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance with University Honors, and also was a four-year letter-winner on the Illini golf team from 1985 to 1988. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School with Baker Scholar Distinction.
Edwards said he was humbled by the opportunity to continue leading the board, which is charged with governing the U of I System and its universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.
“I am honored to again be selected for this role and for the opportunity to continue serving the University of Illinois System,” Edwards said. “I look forward to the work ahead, and to the continuing collaboration with our administration to make certain that we offer a truly exceptional education at our universities and generate the game-changing research that the state and nation count on.
“I would like to thank my fellow trustees for their confidence and Governor J.B. Pritzker for the strong support he has shown the University of Illinois System and higher education in Illinois,” Edwards added.
The system has more than 90,000 students, 26,000 full-time equivalent faculty and staff and 800,000 alumni. It awards more than 23,000 degrees a year and pumps $17.5 billion into the Illinois economy annually.
The terms of Trustees Ramón Cepeda, Edward L. McMillan and Jill B. Smart have also expired, with new trustees to be appointed at a later date by Gov. Pritzker. The appointments will require approval by the state Senate.
“I also wish to extend my deepest thanks to our outgoing trustees,” Killeen added. “They have served with dedication and distinction on behalf of our universities, students, faculty, staff and alumni.”
Along with electing Edwards as chairman, the board also unanimously elected a three-member Executive Committee, which meets as needed to complete urgent U of I System business that cannot be postponed to a regular meeting. Members of the committee are Trustees Edwards, Patricia Brown Holmes and Ricardo Estrada. All will serve one-year terms.
Trustees also re-elected Thomas R. Bearrows as university legal counsel, Gregory J. Knott as secretary of the Board of Trustees and the university, and Avijit Ghosh as comptroller. All will serve one-year terms. Lester McKeever Jr. was re-elected to a two-year term as treasurer.
University of Illinois trustees volunteer their time and service. More information is available at the Board of Trustees’ website – https://www.bot.uillinois.edu/.
Discovery Partners Institute
Trustees also passed a resolution requesting that the Illinois Capital Development Board hire Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and OMA*AMO Architecture to for the upcoming Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) project in Chicago’s South Loop.
The state has appropriated $500 million for the system-led Illinois Innovation Network, of which DPI is part. About $235 million of the appropriation is earmarked for DPI’s headquarters.
The Capital Development Board in May began the process of selecting professional services consultants for the project. Thursday’s request is part of that process.
Personnel
Also on Thursday, trustees extended Karen M. Whitney’s appointment as interim chancellor at the University of Illinois Springfield. Whitney was appointed in June 2020 for one year. The extension adds an additional year, running through June 30, 2022. A national search will be launched for a permanent chancellor in late summer or early fall 2021.
Trustees appointed Brett Bielema as head football coach at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and approved a six-year contract. He has been serving in that role in a designate capacity since Dec. 19, 2020. Bielema joins the university from a position as an assistant coach with the New York Giants and previously was head coach at the University of Arkansas from 2013-17 and the University of Wisconsin from 2006-12. He replaces Lovie Smith.
Trustees appointed Rhea Ballard-Thrower as the new university librarian and dean of libraries at UIC, effective Feb. 1, 2021. Ballard-Thrower also will be a professor in the University Library and have an affiliate appointment in the UIC John Marshall Law School. Ballard-Thrower joins from Howard University, where she has been executive director of libraries and an associate professor of law. She succeeds Mary Case, who was UIC’s last permanent university librarian, and Karen Colley, who had served as interim librarian since Aug. 1, 2020.
Trustees also appointed Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez as interim vice chancellor for strategic marketing and communications at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). She succeeds Theresa Mintle, who served in that role since December 2017. McGinnis Gonzalez will continue to serve as the senior executive director of Public Affairs at UIC. She has been serving as interim vice chancellor in a designate capacity since Dec. 16, 2020.
