Ambitious candidates will soon be vying for the top administration job at the University of Manitoba.

In early February, the presidential search committee will begin community consultations to develop a position profile for the next U of M president.

President David Barnard will be leaving the role in June 2020 when his term concludes. Barnard has served the role as U of M president since 2008.

The committee is tasked with first developing the position profile — through a consultation process — and then selecting and interviewing candidates for the U of M presidency against the position profile.

Ultimately, the search committee will submit a single recommendation to the U of M board of governors. The board will vote on whether to appoint the prospective candidate. The committee must submit its recommendation to the board of governors by Nov. 30, 2019.

The committee consists of 17 university community members, including two students: UMSU president Jakob Sanderson and UMGSA president Carl Neumann. However, the committee only recently grew to 17 members.

On Jan. 11, the board held a special meeting by conference call to pass a resolution so two additional members could be appointed to the committee. The committee was approved with 15 members in September 2018. The resolution indicated the new members would be for Indigenous representation.

Rady Faculty of Health Sciences vice-dean (Indigenous) Catherine Cook and faculty of education professor Frank Deer are those appointees. Their role, in addition to normal committee duties, is to provide an “additional Indigenous perspective and voice to the work of the committee” according to the presidential search committee membership website.

The U of M administration hired executive search firm Perrett Laver to help find candidates. Perrett Laver’s assistance in the search, in conjunction with the suggestions and nominations provided by the wider university community, will help construct the pool of candidates the search committee will judge.

According to the presidential search committee principles, the committee will maintain the “overall responsibility for the recruitment and evaluation of candidates,” while the board has the “power to appoint the president.”

The administration is asking that “all informal inquiries” into the presidential search be submitted to a Perrett Laver employee named Emily Jarvis.

Whoever is appointed by the board of governors will assume the position and responsibilities of president and vice-chancellor on July 1, 2020.