1. The PTM Executive Search Models

  2. Proactive Transition Management’s mission statement includes to conduct a comprehensive executive search that engages and invigorates the entire campus community and key external stakeholders and that results in hiring a new president or vice president whose skills and leadership style align with the needs, ethos, and strategic direction of the institution.


  4. The most impactful transition in the academy is a change in leadership. PTM has developed a unique and comprehensive model that integrates assessment, strategy, management, and renewal.  Instead of the viewing an executive search as an isolated activity, PTM approaches the process as an opportunity for institutional renewal and a time to identify strategic direction for the college or university as well as a time to reaffirm the core values and ethos of the institution.  Moreover, the PTM Executive Search Model provides advice and support for the new president or vice president during the transition of leadership and the first six months.



  7. 1.  Assessment: PTM will conduct a full assessment – reviewing planning documents, budgets, fundraising reports, and enrollment data and conducting focus group interviews with senior administrators, faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni, and community leaders to evaluate the institution’s current strengths and weaknesses.

  8. 2.  Strategy: The assessment will be followed up by additional focus group interviews to identify opportunities for strategic initiatives and to envision alternate scenarios over the next five years.  PTM will submit a document reviewing assessment data and synthesizing the envisioning scenarios into strategic initiatives as the basis for beginning the search for a new president.

  9. 3. Management:  As the search consultant, PTM will advise about the search process, develop a compelling Prospectus that will attract a strong pool of candidates, use PTM’s network and other resources to identify potential candidates and cultivate their interest, work directly with the search committee in structuring a best-practice search and in screening candidates, and negotiate a contract with the candidate selected by the trustees.

  10. 4.  Renewal: PTM is committed to a successful transition in leadership and a strong beginning for the new president or vice president.  To that end, the PTM Model provides consulting advice to the executive from the time of his or her appointment through the first six months.  PTM will build on the trust established with the major stakeholders to ensure an aggressive, creative, and well-grounded executive search that engages and energizes the entire campus community and its key external constituencies.

  11. Searching for a new president or vice president should be an act of institutional renewal and should be regulated and guided by the ethos and ethical underpinnings of the institution.  When viewed as a systemic response to internal or external change, the PTM Executive Search becomes a necessary, exciting, and productive way to enable colleges and universities to seize new opportunities, to fulfill their mission, and to pursue their destiny.

PTM – Proactive Transition Management

153 Red Tail Hawk Loop – Pawleys Island, SC 29585

(843) 325-0983 Office – (843) 235-2679 Fax – web site www.ptm.bz

Dr. Peter T. Mitchell, President – e-mail  peter@ptm.bz