Presidential Search

Election of Dr. Chaouki Abdallah as the Next President of LAU

June 25, 2024

To: Members of the Lebanese American University Community,

I am delighted to tell you that the Presidential Search has successfully concluded, and the Board of Trustees has unanimously voted to appoint Dr. Chaouki Abdallah as the next President of Lebanese American University.

Born and raised in Lebanon, Dr. Abdallah obtained an MS and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982 and 1988 respectively, following an undergraduate degree from Youngstown State University. Since 2018 he has been Executive Vice President for Research at Georgia Tech, overseeing a research budget exceeding $1.4 billion. His extensive administrative experience includes serving as Provost for University of New Mexico for 7 years, and as President for UNM prior to moving to Georgia Tech. He has a world-class academic reputation, having published more than 360 peer-reviewed papers, specializing in systems theory with a focus on control, communications and computing systems. He serves on many academic, philanthropic, and industry boards, and brings to LAU an immense international network.

Aside from his professional accomplishments, Dr. Abdallah embodies the qualities and values that the Board sought in our next President. The Board tasked the Search Committee with finding someone who evinces strategic vision, academic leadership, financial acumen, collaborative management, and the ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders while building organizational capacity. Above all, we sought a president who manifests the qualities of our founders: mission-driven, inclusive, seeking to serve all the communities of Lebanon, possessing the highest ethical standards and utterly removed from partisan politics. The Board is convinced that in Dr. Chaouki Abdallah we have found such a person.

The Search itself set a new standard for LAU in terms of its rigor, transparency, and fairness. The Committee was formed in November and was comprised of current and former Board members, faculty representatives, and an alumnus. We engaged the services of one of the world’s top leadership advisory firms, Spencer Stuart, and under their guidance began canvassing our faculty, staff, students, physicians, and Board through surveys and interviews to help us define the profile of the President that we collectively sought. From an initial list of 150 potential candidates, we narrowed the field to 25 qualified individuals reviewed by the Committee, of which we interviewed 7 before arriving at a shortlist of 4 with whom we met in New York. Finalists were subject to a multi-layered executive assessment program before the Committee determined the candidate to bring to the Board on June 21. The Committee executed its work meticulously, and I am happy to say, without interference of any kind. We were frankly astonished by the number of outstanding candidates interested in the position, a testament to LAU’s excellent reputation and recognition of the importance of our mission. The University owes the Committee members a debt of gratitude for their impeccable work.

The Board wishes at this time to express our profound thanks to Dr. Michel Mawad, who will step down at the end of his term on September 30, 2024. Dr. Mawad led LAU through a period of great crisis, and leaves the University and its Medical Centers in a sound position. He has expressed his full support for Dr. Abdallah, and his desire to work closely with him to ensure a successful transition.

The journey here has been long and occasionally difficult, but we have gone forward, unwavering, tireless, resolute, our path made true by the guiding light of LAU’s mission to the Lebanese people. This mission now requires us to become a global institution, with a New York campus, MENA regional initiatives, online education, and bold investment in research taking us to new places and new opportunities in a way never imagined by our founders 100 years ago. But mission is at heart the belief in the infinite promise of unseen things, achieved through common purpose. LAU conjures miracles because of you, our talented faculty, our dedicated staff, our amazing students, our devoted alumni, our generous donors, and our committed Board. Because of you, no institution is doing more for Lebanon today than LAU. We needed a leader with whom we can entrust this sacred mission, and we have found one. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Chaouki Abdallah as the next President of Lebanese American University.

Sincerely,

Philip Stoltzfus

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Lebanese American University

Previous Announcements

April 25, 2020

To: Members of the Faculty, Administration, Staff, Student Body, and Friends of LAU:

I extend sincere greetings to you and your families for your safety and health during these trying times.

I am pleased to announce that the LAU Board of Trustees has elected Dr. Michel E. Mawad to be the next president of Lebanese American University (LAU). Dr. Mawad’s tenure will begin on October 1, 2020. Dr. Mawad succeeds Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra who has been president of LAU for the past 16 years. 

Under Dr. Jabbra’s leadership, LAU has made tremendous strides toward becoming one of the leading educational institutions in the MENA. Dr. Jabbra’s tireless efforts have laid the foundation for future growth and strengthened LAU’s reputation as a progressive and innovative world-class university.  

In that context, your Board of Trustees is gratified that Dr. Mawad has agreed to serve as LAU’s next president.  Dr. Mawad has demonstrated his leadership skills as Dean of LAU’s Gilbert & Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine (SOM), where extraordinary progress has been made under his tenure. Moreover, Dr. Mawad has earned the respect of his students, his patients, and his peers for his vision and leadership, qualities that will serve him well in his new role.

Dr. Mawad will take on this new position in a challenging environment to say the least. Lebanon has endured many hardships since we began the search for a successor to Dr. Jabbra. Indeed, since that time, we have seen a popular revolution, a change in government, a default on the country’s external debt, a virtual failure of the Lebanese economy, and if that weren’t enough, a global pandemic. 

For these reasons, the board took comfort in the knowledge that our new president is someone who is not only incredibly well-qualified, but whom we all know, love and respect. His familiarity with the university and its people will ensure his ability to begin the job with a substantial amount of ingrained knowledge and experience. In other words, he will be able to hit the ground running and instantly start navigating the challenges and identifying the opportunities. 

Dr. Mawad will also have the benefit of working with Dr. Jabbra for several months, continuing the progress made under Dr. Jabbra’s tenure. Further, because of his incredible passion for LAU, Dr. Jabbra has also pledged to be available to assist Dr. Mawad even after his departure.

Please join me in extending our profound gratitude to Dr. Jabbra and in welcoming Dr. Mawad as LAU’s new president. Let us all rejoice as we embark on the next chapter of our beloved institution, as Lebanese American University continues its rise to the pantheon of higher learning in Lebanon, the MENA and the world.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Tanous
Chairman
LAU Board of Trustees

October 30, 2019

Dear Members of the LAU Community,

Due to the current events that are gripping the entire country, the visit of the three (3) candidates for President will be postponed till after Christmas.

The new dates of the three (3) visits will be communicated to you in due time.

With my best wishes,

Joseph G. Jabbra, Ph.D.,

President
Lebanese American University

September 13, 2019

Dear Members of the LAU Community,

I wish to report to you about the progress the Presidential Search Committee has made over the summer, and what steps remain as we enter the final phase of the process.

When I last wrote to you, we were in the midst of assembling a list of hundreds of names put forward for the Committee’s consideration, many from yourselves, and many more from our Search Consultant, Witt Kieffer. These names were reduced to a long list of around 10 which was reviewed by the Search Committee at a meeting in New York at the end of May. During that meeting, it was agreed to invite 5 of the candidates for in-person interviews in New York in July. These interviews were rigorous and thorough, and resulted in the Search Committee selecting three finalists, each of whom have outstanding qualifications.

We now enter the final stage of the process, which will be to have all three candidates separately visit LAU’s campuses in Beirut and Byblos, as well as LAUMC-RH. These will be exhaustive three day visits in which the candidates will meet with the President’s Cabinet, the Council of Deans, faculty, physicians, staff and students both in large groups and smaller sessions. The objective of these visits is for the candidates to become better acquainted with LAU, and for the whole spectrum of our community in turn to have an opportunity to meet and engage with those from whom our new President will be chosen. The Search Committee wants to gather the impressions of the community as part of its candidate assessment, and to that end those who meet with the three finalists will be asked to fill out a confidential and anonymous feedback form.

The visits will take place over the period October 29 to November 14. Returning Board Member and Vice Chair of the Search Committee, Philip Stoltzfus, will oversee the visits and be in attendance throughout.

Following the visits, the Search Committee will meet to review all of the information it has gathered on the candidates, and choose one name only to submit to the Board of Trustees, as per the University Byelaws. The Board - and the Board alone - will vote to determine who the next President of Lebanese American University will be. The date for that vote is still under discussion.

The Board of Trustees is fully aware that the Search we have undertaken is critical to the continued success of LAU, and as such is the subject of acute interest on the part of the Community. We have endeavoured to be as transparent and inclusive as possible as regards the process, while respecting the need for confidentiality in the interests of both the candidates and LAU. The road has been long, as must be the case to ensure a comprehensive, rigorous search. We look forward to your active engagement in the coming candidate visits. We will continue to exercise our responsibility deliberately and with care, and are confident that in so doing we will find the President LAU needs and deserves, and to whom we can entrust our educational mission.

With best regards,

Peter Tanous
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

April 15, 2019

Dear Members of the LAU Community,

I want to thank you for the gracious way in which you received your Board of Trustees during the meeting in Lebanon in March. That meeting was a great success, in no small measure due to your enthusiastic support and participation.

I had the opportunity to speak to many of you about the progress we are making in terms of the Presidential Search, which, as you all know, is the principal priority for the Board of Trustees between now and when Dr. Jabbra steps down in September 2020. As I didn’t have a chance to speak to everyone personally, I wanted to provide a brief summary as to where we are, and where we are going.

In September the Board appointed its Search Committee comprised of Trustees, faculty and alumni representatives, which in turn recruited a renowned international search firm, Witt Kieffer. In December, Witt Kieffer visited Lebanon and interviewed all the major stakeholders of the University to obtain their views on the qualities needed in our next president, and to establish a mechanism for nominations to be put forward for consideration. Since then, through the Committee and yourselves, we have received dozens of recommendations, and the Search Consultant has generated many more. We are now in the process of preliminary contact and interviews, and from these conversations no doubt will come new names for us to consider.

Our objective now is to reduce this universe of names to a long list of ten to fifteen that will be reviewed at an all-day session of the Search Committee in New York at the end of May. The summer will be spent in interviews with prospective candidates to produce a short-list of three. These finalists will come to Lebanon in the autumn for campus visits and interviews with the LAU community, after which the Committee will select one candidate for consideration by the Board, as per the bylaws of the University. Having reviewed the names submitted thus far, and on the basis of our preliminary contacts, I can tell you that we have some outstanding prospects. The fact that we can attract such a calibre of candidate reflects the prominence and reputation of LAU within the academic world, which is in turn a testament to Dr. Jabbra’s leadership and the hard work of all of you.

As stated many times, this Presidential Search involves a process that is methodical and meticulous, that incorporates the thoughts and suggestions of our full community, and that encompasses a world-wide search of the most talented and accomplished leaders whom we can find to entrust the stewardship of LAU’s educational mission. Although we have made a good start, there is much work to do. I promise you that the Board and the Committee will be unhurried, focussed, resolute and unwavering in the execution of our responsibility. In so doing, I am confident that we will find the President that LAU, our community, and our future generations so richly deserve.  

With best regards,

Peter Tanous
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

February 13, 2019

Dear Colleagues,

As you all know, the Presidential Search Committee, with the help of a major consulting firm, Witt/Kieffer, is methodically and meticulously searching for a president to succeed me on October1, 2020. To that effect, said committee has completed a presidential profile that is already posted on our website.

Thank you.

JGJ

November 26, 2018

Dear members of our LAU community,

I am writing to invite you to a meeting with Mr. Philip Stoltzfus, member of the Presidential Search Committee and 2 members of Witt/Kieffer International, Ms. Natalie Derry - General Manager, UK and Europe and Ms. Lucy A. Leske - Senior Partner, Higher Education Practice, who are visiting LAU from December 3 till 5, 2018. Witt/Kieffer International is an international executive search firm that LAU hired as a consultant to help the Presidential Search Committee find the next President who will succeed Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra.

The purpose of this visit is to get to know you and the University better and to seek your input and expectations regarding the next LAU President.

For more information about all the LAU constituencies they will be meeting with, please see the below schedule:

Sincerely,

Joseph G. Jabbra, Ph.D.,
President
Lebanese American University

November 8, 2018

Dear Members of the Lebanese American University Community,

I have now returned from my visit to Lebanon during which I had the opportunity to spend time on both of our beautiful campuses, and to meet and engage with many of you, including faculty, students, staff, and the Administration. I am inspired by the energy, dedication and passion demonstrated by all those I met, gratified by the sense that we are all embarked on a common mission, and thankful for the warm reception you gave me during my visit.

A major topic of discussion during my visit was the establishment of a Search Committee to find a successor to our beloved President, Dr. Joseph Jabbra, when he steps down at the end of September, 2020. I say “successor” because Dr. Jabbra can never be “replaced” - he has transformed Lebanese American University into a major power in the field of higher education in Lebanon, the Middle East and beyond. He has been President, mentor and friend to us all. The platform of excellence that he has built, and will add to over the remaining two years of his term, will be his legacy, and the framework from which his successor can bring LAU to new levels of achievement.

The most solemn duty of the Board of Trustees is to appoint the next Lebanese American University President, and I promise you that we will carry out this duty meticulously. The Search Committee has been appointed and has already met to begin developing a leadership profile and criteria for selection. We have chosen as our partner in this effort the executive search firm, Witt/Kieffer International, to assist us in the process. Representatives from Witt/Kieffer International will be in Beirut in early December to meet with LAU constituents to gather input regarding LAU’s strengths, the opportunities and challenges facing the next president, and the qualities, credentials and experience the next president should demonstrate to attain our expectations.

On behalf of the Search Committee, I would like to thank all members of the Lebanese American University community in advance for your interest in and support of the search process. We are committed to ensuring the search process is as thoughtful, wide-reaching, and rigorous as possible with outstanding results. As Board and Search Committee Chair, I will endeavor to ensure that the LAU community receives regular updates and communication as the search progresses. We have launched a presidential search page on the LAU web-site where you can find out more. We also encourage you to contact our consultants, Lucy Leske and Natalie Derry of Witt/Kieffer International, at the following address if you have any questions or suggestions of potential candidates:
PresidentLAU@wittkiefferinternational.com

As we begin our work, I am confident our collective efforts will result in a talented pool of candidates and the selection of a president well equipped to lead the university successfully into the future.

Sincerely,

Peter Tanous
Chairman of the Board

September 10, 2018

Dear Members of the Lebanese American University Community,

Today Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra informed the Board of Trustees that he has decided, for family reasons, to retire when his term of office ends September 30, 2020, and that he will not accept reappointment. The Board of Trustees has accepted his decision, while expressing tremendous gratitude for his many years of exemplary service as President of our University.

Dr. Jabbra has been a transformative figure in the history of Lebanese American University. Under his leadership the student body has grown to 8,500 students taught by 813 faculty members across 57 degree programs. He has raised academic standards resulting in the accreditation of the University by NECHE, and accreditations for the Schools of Engineering, Business, Nursing, Pharmacy, and the Computer Science Program in the School of Arts and Sciences. The Architecture Program in the School of Architecture and Design, and the Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine are well advanced in their drive to earn accreditation. He has overseen the establishment of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the acquisition of the LAU Medical Centre - Rizk Hospital, major building projects, the significant expansion of both the Beirut and Byblos campuses, and the acquisition and development of the LAU New York Headquarters and Academic Center. He has lead record-breaking fundraising campaigns that have seen the University endowment grow to over $500 million, enabling LAU to triple its financial aid. Through his tireless campaigning on behalf of our University, he has helped establish LAU as a national and international force in education, while ensuring that we are at heart a student centred institution where young men and women can grow in a nurturing and supportive environment. Above all, he has done so with self-less wisdom, kindness, fairness, and compassion.

The Board now faces the task of finding a worthy successor who can build on the great work of the last 14 years. We shall do so through a transparent, consultative process. A search committee has been formed, consisting of Board members together with faculty and alumni representatives. The committee will appoint an international search consultant to ensure we can access the deepest pool of candidates possible across the world. Further information on the process will soon be posted on the LAU website, together with periodic updates. The incoming Chairman of the Board, Mr. Peter Tanous, will visit Beirut and Byblos in the Autumn to explain the search process and seek the views of all the LAU stakeholders.

Change is essential for the transformation and renewal of any university. The founders of LAU were pioneers who embraced change, who saw the opportunity that resides in change, and set into motion a process that has resulted in an institution that would have been unimaginable to them. And each subsequent generation of leaders at LAU has embraced change and triumphed, raising LAU to higher and higher standards. LAU now has the opportunity to bring itself to a new level on the platform of excellence that is Dr. Jabbra’s legacy, so that we can continue to provide future generations of students with an education that enables them to achieve their highest aspirations. I promise you that with the help and support of the LAU community, we will find the world class leader that our University deserves and expects.

Yours sincerely,

Philip Stoltzfus
Chairman of the Board