Dear Vanderbilt Colleagues,

When I wrote to you last week, I pledged that the Board of Trust would move quickly to begin planning for a national search to select the eighth Chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Today, I am pleased to report that the Board has appointed a search committee to be chaired by Dennis C. Bottorff, the vice chairman of the Board of Trust and the chairman of Council Ventures in Nashville. Mr. Bottorff chaired our last search, which resulted in the selection of Chancellor Gee in 2000.

The following Board of Trust members have been named to the search committee: Darryl Berger (New Orleans, LA), Mark Dalton (Greenwich, CT), John Ingram (Nashville), Orrin Ingram (Nashville), Nancy Mulford (Dallas, TX), Richard Sinkfield (Atlanta, GA), Heather Souder (Washington, DC) and J. Lawrence Wilson (Rosemont, PA). The chairman of the Board Affairs Committee, John Hall (Lexington, KY), the chairman of the Shape the Future campaign, Monroe J. Carell (Nashville) and I will serve as ex officio members of the search committee.

In addition, the search committee will be assisted by an advisory committee of Vanderbilt faculty, students and staff that will be announced next week. The advisory committee will help the Board identify the criteria to be used in the search process, and solicit comments and suggestions from the Vanderbilt community through public meetings and online surveys. The advisory committee will be an essential link between the Board and Vanderbilt's many constituencies around the world.

As chairman of the search committee, Mr. Bottorff will be a tireless advocate for Vanderbilt, a keen analyst of talent, and a relentless consensus-builder whose experience running the last search will help us identify the best leader for this great university. I can assure you that we are very committed to having a thorough and inclusive process in which all voices can be heard.

In the meantime, Vanderbilt will be under the very capable hands of our Interim Chancellor, Nicholas S. Zeppos, effective August 1. Provost Zeppos is an extraordinarily talented educator and executive who will continue the great momentum and excitement that can be felt in every part of the Vanderbilt campus.

Additional information about the Chancellor search process, including biographies of the members of the search committee, can be found on this Web site. I encourage you to explore the information here and to check this site for news and updates as this process progresses.

Once again, I offer my appreciation, respect and admiration for the Vanderbilt family. Together you make a great university even better, and I look forward to our very bright future.

Martha R. Ingram
Chairman
Vanderbilt University Board of Trust