NC-SARA Board Announces Interim President and Next Steps

The Board of Directors of NC-SARA met in executive session on Monday, August 29, 2022 and selected Marianne Boeke, Acting President/CEO and Vice President for Research and State Partnerships, from among a strong list of 5 candidates to serve as the interim president/CEO of NC-SARA effective immediately. The vote was unanimous with one abstention.

Ed Ray, Board Chair, said, “The Board has been very pleased with Marianne’s leadership as Acting President/CEO since July 26, 2022. She has reassigned some staff duties and met the existing service responsibilities of NC-SARA while moving forward with critical operational changes and partnership efforts. Initially, the Board indicated that the interim president/CEO would come from outside NC-SARA, but Marianne’s performance from day one has made it clear that we had the right person in place. She has strong support from the staff of NC-SARA and from SARA stakeholders, as well as partners outside of NC-SARA. Marianne enjoys great trust and confidence from all internal and external colleagues. She is committed to moving forward on the change process implemented by the Board at its June 2022 Retreat. Consequently, the Board has full confidence in Marianne’s leadership of the organization, which permits the Board to constitute a search committee immediately to begin the important work of recruiting a new permanent president/CEO for NC-SARA.”    

Marianne Boeke shared, “I am so grateful to the board members and our regional compact partners for their leadership during this transitional time. I am honored and pleased to assist in this capacity, and to support the important work of serving the 52 state, territory, and district members in implementing SARA across the country to provide broad access to postsecondary education opportunities to students.”

The search committee for the permanent president/CEO for NC-SARA consists of NC-SARA Board members Rob Anderson (President, SHEEO) and Lanna Dueck (Executive Director of the Arizona SARA Council) as co-chairs; Demarée Michelau (President, WICHE), Carlos Morales (President, Tarrant County Colleges Connect Campus), Barbara Gellman-Danley (President, Higher Learning Commission), and Paul Shiffman (retired Chief Executive Officer Presidents’ Forum at Excelsior College), and other members of the SARA community to be determined.

The search committee expects to employ a nationally recognized search firm to facilitate the search and for the Board to approve a new president/CEO no later than at its Board meeting in May 2023.

Inquiries should be sent to Melanie Booth, Vice President for Educational Programs and Communications at NC-SARA and Ed Ray, Board Chair.