Buffkin / Baker Seeking New President for Pittsburg State University
April 2, 2025 – Partner-led executive search firm Buffkin / Baker has been selected by Pittsburg State University in Kansas. Partner Pelema Ellis is leading the assignment. To lead the institution, the board seeks a growth-oriented, proven leader who will build on the university’s foundation of good fiscal management, unique program delivery, and exceptional relationships with its host city to drive recruitment and retention while advancing the university’s mission to provide transformational experiences for its students and the community.
Pittsburg State University’s presidential search committee expects an inspiring, approachable, leader of integrity. This individual must be a dynamic, politically astute, forward-thinking president who will be a forthright champion of the university. The president must embrace a genuine commitment to the university’s core values: student-focused, excellence, “by doing learn,” diversity, community, innovation, and sustainability.
The new president will come to Pittsburg State University with knowledge of and experience in higher education issues and environments. The successful candidate must be able to balance academic and administrative excellence with the ability to be the voice and face of the university in the city, state, and the region. The president must work diligently to support a collaborative governance environment, using a consultative style with attentiveness to professional development for faculty and staff. The president will lend progressive guidance to a new strategic plan and will be an authentic collaborator who continually strives to improve the student experience.
Pittsburg State University’s new president must be an entrepreneurial, enterprising, empowering presence. As a staunch university advocate, the next president must nurture the close-knit, mutually cooperative relationship with the city of Pittsburg by building and maintaining diverse partnerships and collaborations for the well-being of the university, the community, the board, the system, statewide interests, and the state of Kansas, as well as national and international partners.
Founded in 1903, Pittsburg State’s residential and online undergraduate and graduate student population of 6,000 is guided by a dedicated faculty, staff, and administrative team numbering about 750, and operates on a $110 million annual budget. The university has four colleges: College of Arts and Sciences, Kelce College of Business, College of Education, and the College of Technology. Pittsburg State University has institutional accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission.
Related: Buffkin / Baker Assists Augusta University with President Search
Buffkin / Baker is a specialty boutique search firm composed of industry leaders in their respective fields and each has over a decade of retained search experience. Their focus as search professionals is to recruit leaders in digital marketing/advertising, technology, healthcare, media/entertainment, finance, higher education, and non-profit. The firm serves public, private, venture, and private equity-backed companies. Its office locations include Nashville, TN; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Winston Salem, NC, with affiliate offices in London.
A Member of Panorama Search
Buffkin / Baker is a member of Panorama Search, an international federation of retained firms with 18 firms and over 30 offices globally. Buffkin / Baker formed in 2017 with the merger of the Buffkin Group and Baker and Associates LLC.
University of West Georgia Retains Buffkin / Baker to Find New President
Buffkin / Baker has been selected by the University of West Georgia to lead in its search for a new president. Partner Ann Yates and associate Dinah DeWitt are leading the assignment. The presidency is an excellent opportunity for an engaging, visionary leader who is inspired to advance the university’s mission to enable students, faculty, and staff to realize their full potential through academic engagement, supportive services, professional development, and a caring, student-centered community, Buffkin / Baker explained. The president will evaluate the university’s academic enterprise and existing structure with an eye toward improvements that increase effectiveness and organizational agility while creating meaningful connections and dialogue. “The president will strive to streamline processes and overcome obstacles that inhibit the ability of faculty and staff to capitalize on opportunities,” the search firm said. “The president will embrace technological advances, identify synergies, and drive initiatives that reward efficiencies and innovation.”
Craig Buffkin, the firm’s founder, serves as the managing partner, and as head of the private equity and transformation practices, where he is actively involved with client engagements and business development. He has completed search work at the board, executive and senior level both nationally and internationally for a wide range of private, public, venture-backed, and private equity-back companies.
Based in Winston Salem, NC, Martin Baker has been in executive search for more than 22 years. In addition to his role as managing partner, he is also head of the firm’s higher education practice. He previously worked in the Atlanta office of Korn Ferry, where he developed search strategy and executed searches for numerous senior-level appointments. He began his career as a research associate with Saxton Bampfylde, an executive search and management assessment firm in London. He has conducted searches for the positions of CEO, CFO, CIO, provost, dean, director, and professor, having worked on over 350 searches throughout his career.
Dr. Ellis works within Buffkin / Baker’s higher education practice. He brings more than 20 years of experience in driving a strategic effort through a variety of roles in higher education. Previously, Dr. Ellis served as president at Great Bay Community College.
Related: Buffkin / Baker Recruits Chief Lending Officer for Three Roots Capital
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
