Toronto, ON – KBRS, one of Canada’s largest independently owned executive search and consulting firms, is pleased to welcome Jane Kidner as partner in the firm’s Toronto office.
Jane joins a team of seven partners supported by 18 research and support staff who comprise the firm’s national academic executive search practice. Over the past five years, KBRS has led more than 150 leadership searches for universities and colleges nationwide.
KBRS is pleased to welcome Associate Partners, Jan Campbell (Toronto) and Louise MacDonald (Montreal) as KBRS continues to expand its national academic search practice.
Universities are complex organizations that require specific leadership capabilities. But while each university is very different from the next, there is one commonality in academic institutions from St. John’s to Victoria - the increasing struggle to fill leadership roles. The demands placed on academic administrative leaders have increased significantly as they are asked to do more with less. From a pure numbers perspective, the number of qualified candidates with the experience needed for these roles has declined over the past few years.
Universities as organizations have always been more complicated than their private or public sector peers. Bi-cameral governance, the impact of academic freedom on the nature of the faculty’s relationship with the institution and the reliance on government funding with all the strings that are attached make for a challenging environment. And as Dr. Ross Paul points out in Leadership Under Fire. The Challenging Role of the Canadian University President, the university has become an even more complex institution to lead from within.
