DATE: Wednesday, November 26, 1997          TAG: 9711260526

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

HIGHER EDUCATION COUNCIL HIRES FIRM TO HELP RECRUIT DIRECTOR

Seven months after firing longtime director Gordon K. Davies, the board members of the State Council of Higher Education voted Tuesday to hire a Washington firm to help find a replacement.

The council's search committee, meeting in Richmond, selected the firm of Heidrick & Struggles. The council's vice chairman, Norfolk lawyer John D. Padgett, said they planned to spend no more than $50,000.

Padgett said their goal is to have a new director by June.

The members, appointed by Gov. George F. Allen, voted 7-3 in April to dismiss Davies. He left the agency in July. Since then, Davies' deputy, J. Michael Mullen, has served as interim director. The agency helps oversee the state's colleges and forwards budget recommendations to the governor and legislators.

The board members cited ``chemistry'' problems with Davies, who had an independent streak, yet he was popular with many leaders of the General Assembly. Critics of the action said they fear his replacement will be a milquetoast, unwilling to ruffle feathers.

``I definitely know we don't want a lap dog,'' Padgett said Tuesday. ``We want somebody who could service all our constituencies, work with the General Assembly. . . .I know it's going to be a difficult and challenging process, but I'm confident we're going to find an outstanding candidate.''

The search firm, he said, will help council members identify the characteristics they most need in a director through meetings with legislators and ``other constituency groups.'' The firm, he said, will also take the search beyond Virginia. ``We felt it was important to have a national search, and we felt we were somewhat limited in the commonwealth.''

Four of the 11 council members resigned in protest of Davies' firing in May. Padgett said the decision to hire a search firm was delayed to ensure that their replacements had a solid grounding and to resolve technical questions over the state Procurement Act governing contracts.

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