Rao on the move

Courtesy of Robert Barclay, Central Michigan Life and The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Roger Kesseler still remembers his first encounter with Michael Rao in 2000.

Strangers in an elevator in New Orleans, Rao, then chancellor of Montana State University-Northern, sparked conversation over Kesseler’s Central Michigan University name tag.

“He said, ‘I understand that you’re looking for a president,’” said Kesseler, a former CMU trustee, in Lousiana for a Association of Governing Boards conference.

The two ended up talking later for about an hour. Fifteen minutes into the conversation, Kesseler had Rao pegged as CMU’s next president.

It has been nine years since Rao took the reigns from former University President Leonard Plachta.

Kesseler and Rao have remained friends during that time. Last Thursday, Rao called him to say he was seriously considering a job as president of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Rao announced his resignation from CMU the next day. At the end of this academic year, he will replace 69-year-old Eugene Trani as the president of VCU.

“It was a chance that we were able to meet one another in the elevator,” said Kesseler. “The rest is history.”

Sid Smith, a 1965 CMU alumnus, was on the Board of Trustees with Kesseler when Rao was hired.

He said it is sad to lose someone of Rao’s capability and friendship to an out-of-state university.

“That’s what I focus on,” Smith said. “I think in the years he’s been here, he’s accomplished a lot for Central Michigan University, and I think he’s moved us up a notch.”

During a conference call with reporters on Saturday, Rao said he has “mixed emotions” about his decision to leave CMU.

“On the one hand, I’m very excited and very

honored and pleased to be asked by an institution like Virginia Commonwealth University to serve as their next president,” he said. “I have also got an enormous number of relationships and a very big chunk of my life, more than most presidents in fact, at Central Michigan University.”

But for a

convincing recruiter…

Rao said he notified the appropriate people a week ago, when he learned he was finalist for the position.

The agent for VCU’s search was “very convincing,” he said. Someone Rao had himself used to hire CMU administrators.

“Those recruiters talk to you frequently when you’re a sitting president and there aren’t very many sitting presidents who have been sitting for a long time,” Rao said. “So, you’re on their list.”

David Burdette can attest to the nature of persuasive recruitment.

The vice president for finance and administrative services said he dined with Rao and his family when he was recruited in 2007.

“I was struck by a couple of things – how family-oriented he is and what a straight shooter he is,” Burdette said. “We had, as I recall, a terrific conversation. His attitudes, his beliefs, his integrity is what sold me on CMU.”

But the same things Rao pitched when recruiting people for CMU ultimately lured him away.

It was the increased responsibility that interested him in the Richmond, Va.-based university.

“It’s beyond a $2 billion organization,” Rao said. “I think to some extent, the environment and its diversity (helped).”

A pay raise helps, too

The VCU Board of Visitors offered Rao a total compensation package of $615,000, including a salary of $488,500.

Virgina state funds will pay $176,113 of the salary, whereas the remaining $312,387 will be paid through private funds and the VCU health system.

When he first accepted CMU’s presidency, Rao was contracted to receive an initial salary of $200,000. By 2005, he was guaranteed $262,500 a year and had he not resigned his 2009 annual salary would have been $302,357.

In a previous interview, former Board of Trustees Chairman Jeff Caponigro said trustees would have the difficult task of finding a replacement for Rao.

“I can assure you we would have to pay that person more than what our compensation package is for President Rao,” Caponigro said.

CMU alumnus John Kulhavi helped build Rao’s current contract in 2008, which he said was diligently drafted to make the continued prospect of CMU attractive.

“I wish we could’ve offered him more money,” the former trustee said. “(But) it made him the fourth highest paid president in the state of Michigan.”

Kulhavi said the announcement about Rao’s new position was not surprising because it is natural to take advantage of opportunities that are good for one’s career.

“I also know him well enough to know he’s a very conscientious individual,” Kulhavi said. “I’ve been around for the tenure of many presidents, and Mike is in a class of his own.”

university@cm-life.com