Tillerson for Chancellor?

[Publiushorn 113]

Quote

As the search for the next University of Texas System chancellor drags on, a new high-profile potential candidate has emerged: departing U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

A source familiar with the effort told The Texas Tribune on Friday that Tillerson is being courted by some system leaders as a candidate for the top job at the system, which oversees 14 universities and medical institutions. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news, saying “several members of a search committee are making ‘a hard push’ to draw Tillerson.”

But two other sources close to the matter said no interviews have been conducted and that there are no front-runners at this point. There are five current or former regents on the search committee, and, just last month, they announced that they'd signed a contract with an executive recruiting firm, Russell Reynolds Associates. 

“Nobody other than the members of the search advisory committee have confirmed knowledge of the names of candidates under consideration,” Randa Safady, a UT System spokesperson, said in a statement. “At this point, any names mentioned by others are speculative at best."

Though McRaven’s appointment as chancellor was greeted with fanfare, legislators soon soured on his ambitious approach to leading the system. 

A four-regent task force is currently reviewing the system's headcount and spending, and is expected to recommend it take on a more restrained role going forward. 

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/23/former-secretary-state-rex-tillerson-being-courted-leading-candidate-u/

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

[TexasFootball18 48]

McRaven was not well liked by many of the administration below him. Loads of change and most of it was not in a positive direction. Cut out some very profitable programs while putting more efforts into places that did not go anywhere. Tillerson would be more of the same from how he handled the State Dept. I personally think the change at the State Dept was a good thing, but that is another topic.

Edited March 25, 2018 by TexasFootball18

[TexasEd 8,067]

Would we get a UT Houston Campus with Rex?

[clapclapclap 9,000]

Eyebrow management is a red flag.

[CycleTex87 2,977]

This would be a good move imo. 

[MillerEP 30,492]

I could dig it. He was put in a bad situation at the State Department. This could be a good move.

[LCHorn 2,623]

33 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

This would be a good move imo. 

A good move based on what exactly?  Whether you agree or disagree with his cost-cutting at state, the execution and message management was horrible. 

Add that to his total inability to manage a president he himself considers a moron.  If he's that fucking stupid, he should be easier to handle. 

I think he's a fine gentlemen, love that he's an Eagle Scout, and I've heard good things about him in terms of his involvement with The University as president of Exxon, but I'm not in support of putting him in charge of anything. 

[swraith 347]

Other than name recognition, I don’t see the appeal. 

[TSipper 176]

Rumor or not, I always hated the stories of Tillerson and his complete lack of availability to rest of the State Dept. You can't be Chancellor and not be engaged with people each and every day and that doesn't seem to be Tillerson's strength.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

His cost cutting strategy at State was mostly due to orders from Trump (speculation with high confidence).

I think he’d be great for the job because he’s a good man with integrity and knows how to manage complex institutions.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

His ineptitude at State was mostly due to orders from Trump (speculation with high confidence).  Tillerson was getting into about staffing with the Trump people, he didn’t have autonomy.

I think he’d be great for the job because he’s a good man with integrity and knows how to manage complex institutions.

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Mojo Hand 4,580]

I guess I'd take him over Palpatine. 

[SquishMitten 10,419]

Integrity, Hugo? That's the word you pick for guy coming out of the Trump cabinet? 

[Dbeasy 15,073]

I maintained faith in Tillerson for a long time, even in spite of the negative press he has received as SoS. Then some poster rightly pointed out that if he was so great, why didn't he at least try to establish his own platform and messaging with the press and within the State department. Instead, everything seemed to be in stealth mode. Those comments actually did shake my support for him, making me wonder whether he would have what it takes to even run the UT system effectively. Every CEO of a multi-billion dollar company understands that perception is critical to success.

[Ghost of LL 15,539]

6 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I maintained faith in Tillerson for a long time, even in spite of the negative press he has received as SoS. Then some poster rightly pointed out that if he was so great, why didn't he at least try to establish his own platform and messaging with the press and within the State department. Instead, everything seemed to be in stealth mode. Those comments actually did shake my support for him, making me wonder whether he would have what it takes to even run the UT system effectively. Every CEO of a multi-billion dollar company understands that perception is critical to success.

I don't know what to make of him.  Every account I've read indicates that he was very successful in leading Exxon.  And that indicates that he has the management skill to lead the System.

But his 14 months at State really shakes the confidence in that assessment.  And the UT system, being a governmental institution, is a lot more like the State Department than it is like Exxon.

[Neonmoon 38,129]

McRaven wasn't good at the politics of the job. In fact, he was downright terrible. That is why he didn't work out. 

Texas has a lot of pull in the legislature, but you have to know how to use it. You can't let little fucksticks in Houston impede your agenda. 

[MrPhlegm 3,413]

Oh hell no

[swraith 347]

4 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

McRaven wasn't good at the politics of the job. In fact, he was downright terrible. That is why he didn't work out. 

Texas has a lot of pull in the legislature, but you have to know how to use it. You can't let little fucksticks in Houston impede your agenda. 

So maybe the search committee should focus on candidates with actual government, politics, and education experience for a larger higher education system.

[Eskimohorn 5,637]

12 minutes ago, swraith said:

So maybe the search committee should focus on candidates with actual government, politics, and education experience for a larger higher education system.

Totally agree. And Tillerson’s Russia and Trump cabinet connections are a complete non-starter. He cannot be vetted. We have no way of knowing how involved he was in the Russian scandal, even if it’s just as a witness.

[orange dream 1,254]

He may or may not be a good fit for this role but judging his fitness for duty based on how he is perceived from his time serving the tweeter in chief seems a bit unfair.  Show me the person who you think has handled working on either the Trump campaign or administration well and done a good job of controlling perceptions / the message.

[Eskimohorn 5,637]

He may or may not be a good fit for this role but judging his fitness for duty based on how he is perceived from his time serving the tweeter in chief seems a bit unfair.  Show me the person who you think has handled working on either the Trump campaign or administration well and done a good job of controlling perceptions / the message.

There’s a massive criminal investigation, which includes reports that Russia handpicked Tillerson for the position. There’s no way to unravel Tillerson’s role. He cannot be vetted, so he should not be considered.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

Before his association with the Trump administration, I would have been for it.  I don’t think his work there was bad, but I just think there is too much fallout possible to marry ourselves to him before we know what’s going to come out of current investigations, and even ignoring that I’d be concerned with just plain old historical perception of the Trump administration which has the possibility of looking pretty embarrassing. 

[tokamak 6,432]

My perception is that the chancellor of UT in this day and age needs to be someone who will stand up for the mission of a great university (system) in the face of a lot of politically-motivated meddling, skepticism, and outright opposition. Is Tillerson that guy?

[TwiceHorn 31,510]

It's really hard to tell.  While McRaven apparently did not endear himself to the lege, it is impossible to achieve flag rank without fair political acumen, at least at the federal level, which I assume may be a different game than Austin-level.  Tillerson might have precisely the same problem.

I'm not sure it's fair to judge Tillerson on his stint in a very dysfunctional administration.  I suppose you could judge him for accepting a position within that administration, though.  Then again, who really expected this shitshow.

Other than optics, not really sure what his Russia ties, or lack thereof, have to do with the position of Chancellor.

[Guest]

On 3/25/2018 at 5:07 PM, LCHorn said:

A good move based on what exactly?  Whether you agree or disagree with his cost-cutting at state, the execution and message management was horrible. 

Add that to his total inability to manage a president he himself considers a moron.  If he's that fucking stupid, he should be easier to handle. 

I think he's a fine gentlemen, love that he's an Eagle Scout, and I've heard good things about him in terms of his involvement with The University as president of Exxon, but I'm not in support of putting him in charge of anything. 

Lulz. Manage Trump?  Message management with Trump?  It’s beyond me how Texas alum can be critical of Rex. The only valid criticism is working for that assclown in the first place. 

[Eskimohorn 5,637]

It's really hard to tell.  While McRaven apparently did not endear himself to the lege, it is impossible to achieve flag rank without fair political acumen, at least at the federal level, which I assume may be a different game than Austin-level.  Tillerson might have precisely the same problem.
I'm not sure it's fair to judge Tillerson on his stint in a very dysfunctional administration.  I suppose you could judge him for accepting a position within that administration, though.  Then again, who really expected this shitshow.
Other than optics, not really sure what his Russia ties, or lack thereof, have to do with the position of Chancellor.

It would be great to judge him and it was easy to predict the Trump shitshow. Tillerson’s a character in what could be the worst scandal in US history. Lets find someone else.