Search Firm: R. William Funk & Associates
R. William Funk & Associates is the premier firm dedicated to higher education search consulting. Led by its founder and President, R. William (Bill) Funk, the firm is recognized for its unparalleled record in recruiting many of the nation’s most esteemed college and university leaders.
Mr. Funk is the best known and most widely respected search consultant serving higher education. He has been called the “guru of higher education recruiting” by The Chronicle of Higher Education and is listed as one of the 200 best executive recruiters in the world in The Global 200 Executive Recruiters: An Essential Guide to the Best Recruiters in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America (Jossey-Bass, Inc).
On Wisconsin, a University of Wisconsin publication, proclaimed in an article that “…Funk is higher education’s ultimate insider, its answer to the Kevin Bacon game: his list of friends and acquaintances includes the top officials at nearly every major American university. Pick any school on the map and you’re likely to find no more than a few degrees of Bill Funk. He has become the most highly regarded search consultant in higher education.”
Mr. Funk has conducted more than 300 searches for college and university Presidents and Chancellors. Among the nearly 70 currently sitting Presidents he has helped recruit, are many of the nation’s most respected and admired university chief executives, including: David Skorton, President of Cornell University; Holden Thorp, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Max Nikias, President of the University of Southern California; Teresa Sullivan, President of the University of Virginia; Nancy Cantor, President of Syracuse University; Bernadette Gray-Little, Chancellor of the University of Kansas; Mark G. Yudof, President of the University of California System; France Cordova, President of Purdue University; and G.P. “Bud” Peterson, President of Georgia Tech, among many others.
After leading the Education Practice at the nation’s largest corporate recruiting firm for 14 years, Mr. Funk’s perspective on higher education led him to conclude that his clients could be better served by a firm solely focusing on higher education and by consultants dedicated to their academic clientele. R. William Funk & Associates is the manifestation of this vision.