Photo of Jim Yong Kim

About the Search Process

Dr. Jim Yong Kim was named as Dartmouth’s 17th president on March 2, 2009, following an extensive and rigorous search process led by Board Chair Ed Haldeman ’70 and Presidential Search Committee Chair Al Mulley ’70.

The search began last spring—shortly after Jim Wright announced his intention to step down in June 2009—when Haldeman and Mulley met with various constituencies to define Dartmouth’s challenges and opportunities. They spoke with leaders in higher education; selected a search consultant, John Isaacson ’68, of Isaacson, Miller in Boston; and launched a website to solicit community input (www.dartmouth.edu/presidentsearch). They met with individuals as well as groups including the Faculty Committee on Priorities, the Committee on Policy, representatives of the professional schools, the President’s Leadership Council, and the Executive Committee of the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience. They also hosted six separate sessions with students, faculty, staff, and alumni, both on campus and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

In June 2008, the Presidential Search Committee was formed with 14 members: the president of the Student Assembly, the chair of the Alumni Liaison Committee, six faculty members (nominated by the Committee on Organization and Policy and the professional school deans), and six trustees. The chairman of the Board of Trustees also served in an ex officio capacity. The committee set to work preparing the Statement of Leadership Criteria, and the Board of Trustees committed the committee to:

  • Making the best use of institutional learning that comes with a leadership transition;
  • Conducting a transparent yet confidential search; and
  • Conducting as active a search as possible by ensuring every member of the committee solicited nominations and recommendations.

Over the course of the fall and winter, the committee dedicated thousands of hours to the search, including nine in-person committee meetings (most lasting two days and some longer), dozens of small group meetings and regular conference calls. The committee held alumni events in Hanover, Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and London; met with a number of Dartmouth leaders; and continued to solicit feedback from the community at large. The committee compiled an aggressive search list with 400 potential candidates—300 of whom were explicitly considered.

Following Board approval in September, the Statement of Leadership Criteria was shared with the Dartmouth community. During late fall and early winter, the committee held more than 25 small group meetings with candidates across the country. Late in the search, the committee met at length with the most promising candidates before ultimately presenting their recommendation to the Board. Dr. Jim Yong Kim was elected the 17th president of Dartmouth College, effective July 1, 2009, during a special meeting of the trustees on Feb. 20, 2009.

The members of the Presidential Search Committee included:

Trustees

  • Bradford Evans ’64, managing director of Morgan Stanley and a vice chairman of the firm’s Investment Banking Department;
  • Jose W. Fernandez ’77, a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins and global co-chair of the firm’s Latin America practice;
  • Pamela Joyner ’79, the managing partner and founder of Avid Partners;
  • Stephen Mandel Jr. ’78, managing director and portfolio manager at Lone Pine Capital;
  • Albert Mulley Jr. ’70, chief of the General Medicine Division and director of the Medical Practices Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine and associate professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School; and
  • Peter Robinson ’79, fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
  • Ed Haldeman, ’70, Board Chair and chairman, Putnam Investments, served as an ex officio member of the committee.

Faculty

  • Joyce DeLeo, professor of anesthesiology and of pharmacology and toxicology at Dartmouth Medical School;
  • Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business;
  • Gretchen Gerzina, the Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor in Biography and the chair of the Department of English;
  • Joseph Helble, dean of the Thayer School of Engineering;
  • Jane Lipson, the Albert W. Smith Professor of Chemistry; and
  • Jonathan Skinner, the John Sloan Dickey Third Century Professor in the Social Sciences.

Student and Alumni Leaders