Three nominees are being considered for a spot on the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents with the departure of board chair Rich Boehne, whose term expired on June 30.
The Governor’s Postsecondary Education Nominating Committee submitted the names of Karen Finan, Candace McGraw and Lillie Christine Hoots to Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday. All three nominees had applied to serve on the 11-member board, according to state boards and commission staff.
The governor has 60 days to make the appointment to the NKU board after receiving today’s nominations; otherwise the governor’s nominating committee “shall select one of the nominees to serve,” according to law.
Once the appointment is made, the nominee’s name will be submitted to the Kentucky Senate for confirmation “no later than the next regular session of the General Assembly” per state law. The next regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly begins in Jan. 2025. If a special session is called before then, confirmation may also be given at that time.
Finan is president and CEO of the OneNKY Alliance, an organization focused on unity, health and education initiatives in the region. McGraw is the CEO of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Hoots is the managing editor of the Ledger Independent newspaper in Maysville.
Boehne – a longtime member of the NKU Board of Regents and board chair – is an NKU alum and top Scripps executive who was most recently reappointed to the board by former Gov. Matt Bevin in 2018. That same year, Bevin appointed Finan to the Kentucky Community and Technical College board of regents.
Finan’s six-year term on the KCTCS board expired this year.
A second seat on the board is open, but no nominees have been submitted to the governor to replace Elizabeth Thompson, an attorney who resigned from the NKU Board of Regents this year according to the governor’s office.
Applications for that seat are still being accepted to meet state requirements for political party representation.
State law requires that the “appointments shall reflect the proportional representation of the two leading political parties of the Commonwealth based on the state’s voter registration and the political affiliation of each appointee as of Dec. 31 of the year preceding the date of his or her appointment.”
LINK nky could not confirm the political affiliation of NKU Board of Regents members before publication.
Eight members of the 11-member board are appointed by the governor; the other three include one NKU faculty member, a member of the student body and one member of the university’s non-teaching staff.
Membership of the board is posted on the NKU Board of Regents website. Although Boehne was still listed on the site Thursday, NKU communications officials told LINK a new board chair will be elected next week at the board’s annual retreat.