Made for this moment

Checking all the boxes

Dr. Russell remembers first becoming significantly aware of Columbia College when then-University of Missouri Provost Dr. Gerald Brouder was named president of CC. “I stood up and took notice when he moved from the big state U to a small independent college,” Russell says. During the next few years Russell enjoyed a good working relationship with Brouder during his tenure as state commissioner of higher education.

While he was president, Brouder was a member of the council of presidents that provided the state commissioner with valuable advice and feedback. Because of that, Brouder was asked by the state’s independent colleges to be their representative in Jefferson City. “He always did a terrific job, of course,” Russell says. “I admired his demeanor and the way he was always prepared and knew what he was talking about.”

The Rev. Dr. Brad Stagg has served as senior minister pastor of First Christian Church in Columbia since 2012, and because of the church’s covenantal relationship with Columbia College, joined the Board of Trustees later that year. As he became more familiar with the college, he recalls the president giving him a simple, yet profound piece of advice for being a good trustee: “Your job is to ask questions,” Brouder said.

The first time Stagg met David Russell was at the latter’s first board meeting in 2016. His first impression was that the former Army officer and higher-education administrator was insightful. “He asked questions that many of us in the room should have been asking, but he did so in a humble way,” Stagg says.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that David Russell checks all of the boxes the board seeks in its leader:

1. He has vast and significant higher-education experience. He brings 30 years of service to higher education, including time as the chief of staff for nine presidents at the four-campus University of Missouri System. As commissioner of higher education for the State of Missouri for six years, Russell was a member of the governor’s cabinet and oversaw a statewide system that served more than 400,000 college students among both public and independent institutions. His doctoral degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia is in educational leadership and policy analysis.
2. For a college that has half of its locations sited on military installations, his military background is a tremendous asset. Russell retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Army in 1991, after holding command and staff positions in infantry, personnel management and public affairs. His service included two combat tours in the Republic of South Vietnam, as well as tours in Germany and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. His personal military decorations include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. His final post was at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, which is the college’s longest-standing military location. It was also coincidentally the site of his first commencement address as the college’s permanent president in October.
3. Whether it is speaking with members of the Chamber of Commerce, REDI, Mizzou or any other entity, he is well-known and respected in Columbia. “He’s able to interface on so many different levels,” Stagg says.
4. Between his time at his other careers, and through discussions with faculty during his interim presidency, he demonstrated that he understands faculty.
5. From handing out water bottles to new students and their families during move-in day in August to greeting the men’s soccer team’s bus upon their return from the NAIA National Semifinals in Alabama, David and Lee have ingratiated themselves to the college community.

As Stagg remembers, the board didn’t spend a long time discussing options. “We were thinking, this man’s been the commissioner of higher education for the entire state, the chief of staff for the UM System. He can do the interim job,” he says.

For both Russell and the board, one of the appealing facets of the decision to appoint him as interim president was the agreement that he would not be a candidate for the permanent position. That way, he could focus on running the college, and the board could focus on the process of selecting a permanent replacement. And with the board chair role now officially empty, Vice Chair Stagg became acting chair of the board, as well as the one initially tasked with leading the presidential search.

The plan was relatively straightforward, if not necessarily easy: deliberate as a board about the qualities needed in a new leader, engage various entities within and outside the college for their feedback and solicit a search firm to assist in vetting and recruiting potential candidates – a process expected to take anywhere from 12 to 18 months.

As a matter of course, Russell, Stagg and Dale Coe Simons ’65 – who was appointed vice chair following Russell’s appointment – began meeting via Zoom each Monday. “Those chats just built so much trust and a collegial atmosphere; David is so good at creating a collegial partnership,” Stagg says.

Stagg tasked fellow trustee June Viner Hurdle ’83 with chairing the search committee, and as the calendar slowly moved to mid-summer, one of the first items of business for that group was to hire a search firm to assist with the process.

Yet just before that happened, the process hit a fortuitous bump, which Stagg vividly recalls happening as he was sitting in the breakfast area of a motel in Muskogee, Oklahoma, while he and his family were on vacation. “Some of the trustees called me after that vote,” Stagg says, “and they asked me, ‘Before we sign on the dotted line (with the search firm), should we consider if we already have the person?’” Stagg loved the idea personally, yet he had two problems. He remained circumspect.

First, Stagg knew he and the board had a duty to the college to honor the search process. Second, he was under the impression that Russell’s time with the college had a defined end. As Lee Russell made clear to Stagg at the outset, “You can have him for 18 months, not 19,” he laughs in recollection. For that part of the conundrum, he reached out directly to the source. To be clear, the first call was to Lee.

From that point forward, conversations between board members and Russell exclusively involved operational issues for the college. The need to avoid the slightest perception of favoritism was such that the weekly Zoom sessions among Russell, Stagg and Simons nearly ceased from June through August.

During that time, Stagg went into high gear to visit with every possible constituency at the college, covering both ends of Tenth Street – First Christian Church is just three blocks south of Rogers Gate – and via Zoom. From faculty representatives on the Board of Trustees to the entire Faculty Association, from the college’s administrative Management Council to the Staff Association Advisory Council, from the CCAA to the provost and dean of students, from the college’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee to the Robert W. Plaster School of Business Advisory Board, Stagg held no fewer than 15 meetings spanning the spectrum of the college community. Other college leaders also canvassed various community leaders on Stagg’s behalf.

The feedback from those listening sessions was overwhelmingly positive that David Russell was the perfect person for the job. On Friday, September 24, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously: Effective October 1, 2021, he would become Columbia College’s 18th president.