Presidential Search Information
Welcome to the official WI presidential search portal. Here you will find comprehensive background details about our organization, mission, and current initiatives.
Our institution is dedicated to excellence and community engagement. Use this site as your primary resource for all developments regarding our ongoing executive leadership transition.
Letter to the community on August 7, 2026
Dear Wright Institute Community,
We are writing to share the process for selecting the next President of the Wright Institute, whose term will begin in summer of 2027.
Peter Dybwad will retire next summer after 45 successful years as the Wright's President, providing the Wright with a graceful and smooth transition. We are deeply grateful to Peter for his steady and capable leadership of Wright over the past decades, and we look forward to celebrating his many achievements and contributions to the Institute this spring.
In line with best practice, the Board of Trustees selected an outside executive search firm to advise us in appointing our next President. After careful review of several firms, the Board unanimously selected WittKieffer, a premier firm with extensive experience placing university, college, and graduate program presidents. Charlene Aguilar, Melody Rose, and Sarah Seavey from WittKieffer will work closely with both the Board and the Search Committee throughout the process.
Melody and Charlene will be on campus September 14–15 to meet with stakeholders and to hold listening sessions with students, staff, faculty, and administrators about the values and philosophy the next President should embody, as well as the most important strategic matters for the next President and the Board to keep in mind. More information will be coming soon about opportunities to join these sessions, and I encourage you to attend and provide your input. For those who cannot make the sessions, WittKieffer has also assisted us in the design of an input survey to be sure we capture your thoughts.
While the Board of Trustees will make the final selection, the Board has affirmed a process that is highly inclusive of the Wright community. A Search Committee composed of trustees, students, faculty, and administrators will identify finalists for the Board's consideration. This is standard and best practice at academic institutions.
As you know, last spring, both students and faculty each selected two members to serve on the Committee. The full Committee will undergo training for confidentiality, unconscious bias, the responsibilities of serving on such an essential Committee and other best practices for such an important role. The Committee members are:
- Peter Reinke, Trustee and Chair, Presidential Search Committee
- Jocelyn Burton, Trustee and Vice-Chair, Presidential Search Committee
- Hawlan Ng, Chair, Board of Trustees
- Dana Landis, Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
- Myron Okada, Trustee
- Veda Asmatey, Trustee
- Becky Pizer, Clinical Program Faculty
- MacKenzie Stuart, Counseling Program Faculty
- Johnny Pitts, Administrator
- Alex Fernandez, Clinical Program Student
- Janine Gee, Counseling Program Student
The Search Committee will meet later this month to receive its charge from Board Chair Hawlan Ng and to begin its work. Once WittKieffer has concluded the community listening sessions and received additional input through the survey, the Committee will work with them to finalize a leadership profile. This document serves as a national announcement of our search and invites candidates to consider the opportunity. Once complete, we will share the final profile with the community and encourage you to circulate it widely across your networks. The Committee will select semifinalists in early 2027 and identify finalists to visit campus in late winter.
In our next communication, we will provide specific information regarding your opportunities in September to provide input. Following that, we will be providing periodic all-community updates on the status of the search. Please feel free to also check the website to find key search information and ongoing updates throughout the process. That information will be up on the website at the start of the school year.
This is an exciting time for the Wright Institute as we select our next President. We look forward to working with you to identify all that is meaningful in our institution, and to finding the leader who will carry that forward.
Warm Regards,
Hawlan Ng, Trustee, Board President
Peter Reinke, Trustee, Presidential Search Committee Chair
Jocelyn Burton, Trustee, Presidential Search Committee Vice-Chair
