Today the Florida International University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to call Kenneth A. Jessell the college’s sixth president.
The number of Jessell, who has served as FIU’s interim president since January, is pending affirmation by the Florida Board of Governors.
“In Dr. Jessell we have found the best possible leader for FIU at this moment in its history,” stated Dean C. Colson, chair of the FIU Board of Trustees. “His passion, vision, and knowledge of the institution are unmatched. We are fortunate to have him.”
FIU’s Presidential Search Committee, chaired by Roger Tovar, vice chair of the FIU Board of Trustees, spent months working with a search agency to establish, recruit and interview candidates.
The search agency communicated with roughly 186 people relating to the place. From this group, greater than 70 people submitted their paperwork to be thought-about by the search committee. Jessell was chosen from a extremely certified pool of 12 people that the Presidential Search Committee interviewed. Nine of the 12 had been sitting, previous or interim presidents.
“Dr. Jessell has been a key part of the leadership team that has brought FIU to this point, and he’s the right leader to keep us moving forward as a leading research institution,” Tovar stated.
In the times main as much as at this time’s BOT assembly, Dr. Jessell held six open boards throughout which he took questions from college students, school, workers and members of the group.
During the boards, Jessell laid out 4 key areas of focus: Student success, analysis excellence, sustainable sources, and affinity and engagement.
“We have realized significant success in many of these areas, and yes, the best is yet to come for FIU,” Jessell stated. “FIU is on a trajectory of success, and I am committed to ensuring that we have the focus and the resources to achieve our goals and continue to provide our students exceptional opportunities.”
FIU is the fastest-rising college in U.S. News & World Report public rankings within the final 10 years and has achieved many “Top 50” rankings, together with these targeted on financial mobility, return on funding, innovation, and analysis expenditure progress.
Prior to serving as interim president, Jessell was FIU’s senior vice president for finance and administration and CFO for 13 years. In this place, he was chargeable for the administration and administration of monetary, facility and enterprise service operations of the college. He is also a professor of finance within the College of Business Administration at FIU.
Prior to his time at FIU, Jessell served as the senior vice president for monetary affairs at Florida Atlantic University. During his 26-year profession at FAU, Jessell served in a number of key management positions, together with interim college provost, interim vice president for University Advancement and government director of the FAU Foundation, affiliate college provost and affiliate dean within the College of Business Administration. Jessell began at FAU in 1983 as an assistant professor within the Department of Finance and Real Estate.
Jessell’s instructing and analysis pursuits are within the areas of monetary administration and actual property finance and appraisal. He has revealed 16 articles and abstracts in tutorial journals together with The Financial Review, Journal of Cash Management, The Appraisal Review, Housing Finance Review, Applied Economics and Journal of Financial Education. He additionally has introduced a number of analysis papers within the areas of finance and actual property at skilled conferences and organizations together with the Oxford Roundtable in Oxford, England.
A local Floridian, Jessell obtained his Baccalaureate Degree in Political Science from Florida State University. He additionally holds a Master of Business Administration diploma, as nicely as a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Finance from FSU. Jessell and his spouse Lori have two grownup kids, Amanda and John, and a grandson James.
Jessell’s appointment now’s pending affirmation by the Florida Board of Governors, which is scheduled to fulfill on Nov. 9 and 10, 2022.
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