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The state has selected an Omaha-based recruitment firm to help find Nebraska’s next education commissioner.

During a Friday meeting, the State Board of Education picked McPherson & Jacobson to conduct the search following the resignation of current Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt. His last day is Jan. 3.

McPherson & Jacobson was among three finalists that presented to the state board on Thursday. The other competing firms were the Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB) and National Association of State Boards of Education.

The firm, which was founded in Omaha in 1991, has a nationwide network of more than 130 consultants in 42 states, said Walt Cooper, a Colorado consultant who presented on Thursday. About 16 of them are based in Nebraska.

The search will be led by Steve Joel, who has been with the firm for more than two decades and most recently served as superintendent of the Lincoln Public Schools before his retirement in May.

Other Nebraska consultants for the firm — but not necessarily part of the commissioner search — include Paul Gausman, current superintendent of LPS; Mike Lucas, superintendent of the Westside Community Schools; and superintendents in Columbus, Firth, Blair, Grand Island, Wahoo and Broken Bow.

Kirk Penner was the only board member who voted against McPherson & Jacobson. He said he preferred NASB because of the firm’s extensive knowledge of Nebraska school districts.

One of the challenges of NASB was its lack of experience working with larger school districts or state officials, something board member Deborah Neary said was crucial for the commissioner search.

“One of my considerations is knowledge about the challenges of larger school districts,” she said Friday. “We’re hiring someone that has to understand the needs of large, urban school districts but also all the needs across the state.”

McPherson & Jacobson most recently completed the search and hire of Mississippi’s state superintendent of instruction, Cooper said. It also hired the executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards.

“Over the course of 30 years, we have refined research tools that prove strong candidates,” Cooper said Thursday. “We have a lot of flexibility. We don’t start from scratch each time. Our protocols are effective and proven.”

Cooper said 85% of candidates that the firm has hired in the last five years remain in their position. Nearly 60% of candidates are still in their positions after 10 years and 40% after 15 years.

Most of those searches have sought to fill district-level superintendent positions, Cooper said.

“We have very few data points around state-level positions because we have not done nearly as many of those,” he said.

The board now has to decide what exactly it wants from McPherson & Jacobson, which is offering a variety of services that amount up to nearly $43,000 as a maximum price, according to the firm’s proposal.

First steps in the search include creating the job description and confirming a hiring timeline. Consultants will work with community partners to collect input on the search process.

The firm will then advertise the job and start recruiting applicants. Cooper said it will use a rubric to grade candidates and video to gather information from individual candidates before in-person interviews.

Joel said statewide searches usually take three to four months from the beginning to the finalists stage. A rough timeline in the firm’s proposal said the search would be complete by April.

“It’s about who the people out there are — who has the skills and traits you’re looking for,” he said.

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