April 16, 2026: Presidential Search Update

April 16, 2026

Dear Members of the W&L Community,

The Presidential Search Committee has spent the last several months attending listening sessions, reviewing survey results, and crafting Washington and Lee’s Presidential Profile. The profile, which Isaacson, Miller will share with prospective candidates, is now available on our Presidential Search website. We are grateful to have received dozens of candidate recommendations and comprehensive feedback from over 2,100 members of the W&L community that helped define this document. Your participation has been instrumental in shaping our work to date.

Throughout this process, we consistently heard your justified pride in Washington and Lee. We also discovered strong alignment across constituencies on the characteristics W&L should preserve and strengthen, the priorities for the next president, and the qualities we should seek in candidates. It is clear that you value Washington and Lee’s academic excellence, the Honor System, and the values and traditions that make this community special. We heard your desire to continue to build on W&L’s strengths, lean into its distinctions, and look for an ethical and visionary leader who will build on its record of success.

With the profile complete, we now move into the discovery phase of the search, where our partners at Isaacson, Miller will begin to talk with potential candidates. W&L’s strong position and distinctive community give us great confidence that this search will attract a highly talented candidate pool. We continue to welcome your nominations.

We will provide regular community updates as the search progresses. Again, we thank you for your thoughtful participation in this process.

Sincerely,

John Robinson ’94
Chair, Washington and Lee University Presidential Search Committee
https://presidentialsearch.wlu.edu