Ivy Tech finalist says governor favors internal candidate

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One of two finalists vying to become the next president of Ivy Tech Community College said two members of the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels told him he is not the governor’s preferred candidate.

Thomas P. Snyder, a former executive at Remy International Inc. in Anderson and currently chairman of Flagship Enterprise Systems Center, an energy-business development center in Anderson, said today that he was told in mid-February that Daniels favored an internal candidate.

Snyder wouldn’t identify the governor’s associates or the name of the favored internal candidate. However, a source familiar with the process told IBJ  that the candidate was Executive Vice President Carol D’Amico, an education veteran who advised President George W. Bush.

Attempts to reach the governor’s office for comment were unsuccessful.

Two internal candidates were rejected by the search committee, according to internal documents obtained by IBJ. The documents do not mention their names.

The other finalist is Thomas D. Klincar, a commandant at Community College of the Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base in Maxwell, Ala.

Snyder, 62, said he is comfortable with the trustee’s search process. “The process was rigorous. It was step by step,” he said.

The governor’s representatives told Snyder that they admired his work in economic development.

Joseph Bumbleburg, Ivy Tech’s longest-serving trustee, said trustees now complaining about the selection of two outsiders as finalists to lead the school originally voted for the process that has transpired and should let things move forward.

“I’ve never seen such nonsense,” said Bumbleburg, an attorney at Ball Eggleston in Lafayette. “The process should go forward as everyone agreed to it in the beginning.”

In fact, he added, some trustees who are calling for a halt to the selection process because D’Amico was passed over at one time favored Snyder.

Some outside candidates declined to be considered because D’Amico was considered a sure bet to be named the school’s next president, Bumbleburg said.

Ivy Tech has 14 trustees. Daniels, a Republican, has appointed nine of the trustees since he took office three years ago.

The new president will replace Gerald Lamkin. He retires June. 1.

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