Navigating the Search for Tomorrow’s HBCU Leaders
September 11, 2026 – Leadership searches at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are becoming increasingly complex as boards weigh institutional legacy against rapidly changing demands on presidents. Executive search firms are being asked to identify candidates who can balance mission, financial stewardship, fundraising, stakeholder engagement, and long-term strategy while navigating a more uncertain higher education environment. For HBCUs, the stakes are particularly high as the right leadership appointment can shape institutional momentum for years to come.
HBCUs are institutions with deep roots, loyal communities, and a track record of impact that any incoming president will be expected to honor and build on, according to Amanda Washington Lockett, president of TM² Executive Search (TM²). “That context shapes what a board looks for when a search begins,” she said. “In our work at TM², we often hear similar priorities: fundraising capacity and donor relationships, external visibility, mission fluency, technology readiness, and the competence to navigate complex funding environments. The particularities unique to each HBCU matter when it comes to board priorities in a presidential search. The institution’s private or public designation, geographic location, student population, financial condition, endowment strength, and religious affiliation are just a few data points that determine the board’s priorities, and no two HBCU searches are the same.”
“What we know with certainty, across every board we have worked with, is that schools are all looking for the same thing in candidates at the core: vision coupled with a proven skillset,” Dr. Washington Lockett said. “The best HBCU presidents do not rest on what was built before them. They keep building, widening the path for those who will come after. These are leaders who can stand inside 150 years of institutional history and still keep their eyes on the next 150 years. The greatest presidents at the helm of HBCUs plant seeds for trees under which they know they may never sit in service of a mission that has always been bigger than the person leading it. Finding that person, for that institution, at that exact moment in its history is what TM² was built to do.”
At TM², Dr. Washington Lockett explained that stakeholder engagement is the foundation of every search we run. “From the moment we begin, we are in deep, intentional conversation with every constituent group, including trustees, faculty, students, alumni, and the broader community,” she said. “We do not collect their input and then move on; we treat every constituent as a partner in the process. What they share in a listening session, what they hope for, what they have seen, and what they need from the next leader shape nearly every decision we make throughout the process. The best searches are not simply about delivering a candidate to a board. They are about ensuring that an entire community feels heard, represented, and confident in who comes next. That is the standard we hold ourselves to at TM².”
Next Generation of Leaders
The next generation of HBCU presidents will step into institutions that are, by every measurable indicator, on the rise, Dr. Washington Lockett told Hunt Scanlon. “Applications are up, philanthropy is paying attention,” she explained. “The national conversation about what an HBCU education is worth has shifted in ways that would have been hard to predict ten years ago. The challenge is finding a leader who can hold it and push it further. AI is the most immediate frontier. HBCUs are already in this space. The question is no longer whether they belong in the AI conversation. They do. The question is whether the next president can move their institution from interest to infrastructure, building the academic culture, faculty capacity, and industry partnerships that make it real for students.”
Amanda Washington Lockett is president of TM² Executive Search and a dedicated scholar-practitioner with over a decade of experience in higher education and strategy development. Her research and practice focus on innovations in higher education, transformative leadership and institutional sustainability. TM² Executive Search specializes in providing exemplary executive talent acquisition consultation for HBCUs, Predominantly Black Institutions, and other organizations looking to attract highly qualified, motivated, accomplished diverse candidates at all levels of the administration. The firm focuses on filling C-suite leadership positions, including presidents, chancellors, and board directorships.
“That is leadership, philanthropy is changing, too,” she continued. “Major donors are paying attention to HBCUs in ways they were not a generation ago. The next generation of HBCU presidents must know how to meet that moment, not just by closing a gift but by building relationships that grow endowments over time and give an institution the financial foundation to lead rather than react. In that way, fundraising is not something you hand off; it is something you own.”
Evaluating Candidates
The best, most relevant questions speak to candidates’ demonstrative data, according to Dr. Washington Lockett. “In other words, evidence,” she explained. “We ask how this person led when resources were scarce, and the path was unclear. We ask what exists now that did not exist before they arrived. We ask where the candidates have been and what they have done. At TM², we believe the best indicator of what a leader will do is what they have already done. The record tells the story. Our job is to read it well.”
Related: Reinforcing Leadership at Historically Black Colleges
Dr. Washington Lockett told Hunt Scanlon that the qualities institutions seek in senior leaders have shifted in ways that reflect the compounding pressures now defining the sector. “For much of higher education’s modern history, the ideal candidate was evaluated primarily on academic credentials, institutional pedigree, and a linear trajectory through the faculty and administrative ranks,” she said. “That profile has not become irrelevant, but it has become incomplete. Today’s institutions seek a more composite leader. Financial fluency has moved from a secondary competency to a foundational expectation. Presidents are now evaluated on their ability to think strategically about resource allocation, engage governing boards on long-term fiscal sustainability, and work in genuine partnership with their chief financial officers. Institutions are also broadening their definition of who qualifies.”
“Search committees are increasingly open to candidates whose pathways did not follow traditional academic trajectories, provided they demonstrate genuine mission alignment and the relational capacity to lead within higher education’s distinctive culture,” she added. “The margin for a misaligned leadership appointment has narrowed considerably. Institutions cannot easily absorb the cost of a senior leader who possesses the right résumé but lacks the judgment and adaptability the moment requires. Getting the right leader in the right seat is no longer simply an organizational priority but a strategic imperative.”
Shifts in the Higher Education Talent Market
TM² Executive Search is observing several notable shifts in the higher education talent market that have meaningful implications for how institutions plan for and execute leadership transitions. “Sitting leaders are demonstrating a heightened reluctance to leave stable positions,” Dr. Washington Lockett said. “The financial uncertainty of prospective institutions has introduced a level of professional risk that candidates are weighing more carefully than in previous cycles. For many experienced leaders, the calculus of a career move has changed. The opportunity to lead a new institution must now compete with the very real concern that the environment they are stepping into may not be positioned to support their success.”
“The sector is also experiencing a higher volume of unplanned leadership transitions than in prior years,” she added. “Institutions are increasingly turning to interim appointments as a bridge while permanent searches are organized and conducted. Both trends underscore a broader truth. In the current environment, leadership continuity is not guaranteed. The institutions that plan ahead and approach every search with strategic intentionality will be the ones best positioned to lead through uncertainty.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Washington Lockett said that the single greatest leadership challenge facing higher education today is the growing gap between what institutions cost to operate and what students and families can afford to pay. “Everything else flows from that,” she said. “Tuition increases have reached their limits. Enrollment is declining. Students and families are making different choices. And the institutions that have not yet moved from awareness to action are running out of time to do so deliberately. The institutions that navigate this moment well will not be the ones that cut the most. They will be the ones that lead the best.”
Related: Finding Senior Leaders for Higher Education Institutions
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
