Dr. Jeff Gold said he has been a proud Nebraskan in the decade since he was made the chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The New York City native, who graduated from public high school and worked his way through college before becoming a cardiac surgeon and university administrator, said his decision to move to Omaha was second only to proposing to his wife, Robin Hayworth, nearly 50 years ago.
鈥淚 am a Nebraskan by choice, not by birth, but the last 10 years have been a phenomenal experience,鈥 Gold said.
On Wednesday, the NU Board of Regents unanimously approved naming Gold the priority candidate to become the ninth president of the state鈥檚 public university system, which operates campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, as well as the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.
Regents, who announced their pick after a closed session that lasted about one and a half hours, also had been rumored to be considering Bryan Slone, the president of the Nebraska State Chamber, and Chris Kabourek, NU鈥檚 interim president and vice president for business and finance.
Gold, 71, will now be subject to an intense 30-day vetting period which will take him around the state to meet with students, faculty and staff, as well as stakeholders and other donors, before he can take office. A schedule for those public forums is forthcoming, a university spokeswoman said.
The Board of Regents, at the end of the 30 days, could make the hire official on April 19 at its next scheduled meeting.
Regent Rob Schafer of Beatrice, the board鈥檚 chairman, said聽on Wednesday Gold emerged as the top pick during the seven-month search to find a replacement for Ted Carter, who last August accepted a job as president of Ohio State University.
鈥(Gold) was pretty formidable from the start as a candidate,鈥 Schafer said after the board voted 8-0. 鈥淗e was someone who had probably the most dynamic background as far as the fit.鈥
Since becoming UNMC鈥檚 top administrator in 2014, where he replaced longtime Chancellor Harold Maurer, Gold鈥檚 reach has extended beyond the academic health center鈥檚 boundaries to the NU system as a whole.
Gold partnered with the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2015 to boost the number of students in the allied health professions, and has teamed up with Chancellor Doug Kristensen on the upcoming $95 million Rural Health Education Building to grow the health care workforce across the state.
In 2017, following the retirement of Chancellor John Christensen at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Gold was named interim chancellor and later took on full duties leading the NU system鈥檚 metropolitan campus in addition to his own for four years.
Carter tapped Gold as executive vice president in 2021, becoming the chief academic officer of the NU system, and last year tasked him with working alongside UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett to lead efforts to begin planning how to get the flagship campus back into the Association of American Universities.
Late last year, as part of that effort, the National Science Foundation approved a plan for UNL and UNMC to report research expenditures together, which automatically moved NU up in the national rankings.
His time at UNMC has also coincided with continued growth聽鈥 the campus has seen its enrollment continue to increase each year under Gold鈥檚 leadership; there are roughly 4,300 students there today聽鈥 both in stature and physical size.
Arriving in Omaha months before an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Gold helped UNMC receive acclaim for successfully treating American patients in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, leveraging the experience into the new Global Center for Health Security.
The UNMC leader also oversaw the opening of the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and has pushed Project Health, which seeks to build out academic, research and patient care capacity, adding more than 4,200 jobs to the area and generating as much as $1.1 billion in economic activity.
Gold said his time in the Cornhusker state has made him 鈥渁ppreciate the wide spectrum of communities, rural and urban, we see every day through multiple perspectives鈥 as he seeks to put his stamp on the president鈥檚 office.
鈥淚 am here to tell you the value of higher education and the value of education in our system here in Nebraska is incredibly strong,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 am confident the University of Nebraska system is rock solid and incredibly well-prepared for the headwinds that may be ahead.鈥
'A dynamic step'
On Wednesday, individual regents said Gold was the right leader to help NU confront those headwinds.
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Lincoln Regent Tim Clare said Gold has done 鈥渆xtraordinary work鈥 at UNMC, corralling Omaha and Nebraska鈥檚 philanthropic community, and has built national relationships that can help NU in the future.
鈥淚 think those things at the end of the day are ultimately what tipped the scales in his favor,鈥 Clare said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 respected in Omaha and throughout the entire state.鈥
Omaha Regent Elizabeth O鈥機onnor said Gold鈥檚 strengths aligned with nine 鈥渓eadership pillars鈥 the board adopted last October.
Those pillars included finding a proven leader, strategic thinker, someone who prioritizes higher education and is committed to 鈥淥ne Nebraska,鈥 has political acumen, fundraising capability, values diversity and inclusion, sees the university as a global leader and champions intercollegiate athletics and academic health centers.
鈥淭he university is currently at a crossroads,鈥 O鈥機onnor said. 鈥淲e are facing incredible challenges, but also incredible opportunities. As an experienced leader in higher education, Dr. Gold is positioned to help us take advantage of these opportunities and build a university for Nebraska鈥檚 future.鈥
And Regent Jim Scheer of Norfolk called Gold 鈥渁 dynamic pick鈥 for the NU presidency.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not on the moon, so it鈥檚 not a step for mankind, but it鈥檚 sure a hell of a step for Nebraska,鈥 Scheer said.
Regents met days after Ohio State鈥檚 announcement to begin planning their next steps to conduct a national search to find Carter鈥檚 successor to lead the system with four campuses, roughly 50,000 students, and 16,000 faculty and staff.
In October, the board hired Academic Search and appointed a 22-member committee to lead the search.
Alberts鈥 departure put the NU president search under a magnifying glass, particularly after Gov. Jim Pillen criticized the board for moving too slow in finding a system leader.
Gold鈥檚 appointment as president-designate comes 211 days after Carter announced his intention to leave Nebraska. The search that led to Carter鈥檚 hiring after Hank Bounds told the board he would step down lasted 215 days.
On Wednesday, Pillen congratulated Gold on being named NU鈥檚 ninth president: 鈥淗e has been a visionary, patient-focused leader for UNMC.鈥
Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Gold said public education and higher education in particular has been a part of his life for decades and he still believes in its mission.
A first-generation college student, Gold described himself as the product of a large public high school who used scholarships, work study experiences and student loans to earn a degree in bioengineering from Cornell University, and later a medical degree.
Pursuing higher education afforded Gold the opportunity to pursue his dream of becoming a surgeon who would go on to operate on patients young and old in hospitals in Boston, New York and elsewhere.
Recently, Gold said he received an email from a woman he operated on 37 years ago when she was 2 days old. It included photos of her three children and adventures in rock climbing聽鈥 a sort of thank you for a life well-led.
Gold said those kinds of messages 鈥済ives one a perspective of paying it forward, of real value.鈥
鈥淚 was inspired as a high school student growing up in the inner city of New York to have a career that could do those sorts of things,鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled about the opportunity to inspire a generation of people who aspire to something special.鈥
Dr. Jeff Gold speaks at the Wigton Heritage Center in Omaha on Wednesday after he was named the priority candidate for president of the University of Nebraska system.
Dr. Jeff Gold smiles after a press conference at the Wigton Heritage Center in Omaha on Wednesday after he was named the priority candidate for president of the University of Nebraska system.
Dr. Jeff Gold speaks in front of the facade of one of the original buildings at Nebraska Medicine inside the Wigton Heritage Center in Omaha on Wednesday after he was named the priority candidate for president of the University of Nebraska system.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents聽convene for a regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday at Varner Hall to continue deliberating who should be the next university president.
University of Nebraska Board of Regents Chair Rob Schafer speaks after the board named Jeff Gold the priority candidate during a Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday at Varner Hall.
University of Nebraska Regent Tim Clare speaks after the board named Jeff Gold as the priority candidate during a Board of Regents meeting Wednesday at Varner Hall.