Higher ed. chief leaves for S. Dakota

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s commissioner of higher education is leaving for a similar job in South Dakota.

The Board of Regents in that state announced today that it has hired Jack R. Warner as the regents’ executive director and chief executive officer. He will start July 8.

Steven Maurano, a spokesman for the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education, said plans had not yet been assembled for finding Warner’s replacement here.

He said Warner – who, along with the board of governors, oversees the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island – is expected to remain on the job until the end of this fiscal year, which is June 30.

- Advertisement -

“This is all happening pretty quickly,” Maurano said, adding that the agency learned about Warner’s pending departure two days ago.

Warner, 63, was appointed Rhode Island’s higher education commissioner in 2002 after serving as associate chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Warner has been considered for other positions in the past. Last May, he was a finalist for the job of chief executive of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities.

State education officials long have lamented what they view as a lack of government support for Rhode Island’s college system. Those complaints have increased as the state’s fiscal woes have grown worse and appropriations have declined further.

Last year, some legislators talked of abolishing the Board of Governors for Higher Education to save money, a proposal Warner challenged in an interview with PBN last year.

Maurano said Warner’s annual salary in Rhode Island was about $135,000. In South Dakota, he will earn $323,000.

“Jack Warner brings extensive experience in a role quite similar to the one he will take on here,” Regents President Terry Baloun said. “Dr. Warner is a seasoned professional who will hit the ground running, given his background working both in and with public institutions. Additionally, he works very effectively within the policy-making environment and that made him a most desirable choice.”

A spokeswoman for the South Dakota Board of Regents said Warner will oversee six higher education institutions with a total of about 33,000 students, plus a school for the deaf and a school for the blind run by the state. The Rhode Island higher education system has about 40,000 students.

Warner will succeed Robert T. Tad Perry, who is retiring this summer after 15 years in the job. Perry is currently the longest serving state higher education executive officer in the country, officials in South Dakota said.

Maurano said Warner is in South Dakota today and not immediately available for comment.

Warner’s move comes as the board of governors reaches the final stages of selecting a replacement for Robert Carothers, the longtime University of Rhode Island president who is stepping down in June.

Additional information on the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education is available at RIBGHE.org.

No posts to display