Sally Mason joined AGB Search in 2015. In addition to being a senior fellow and executive search consultant with AGB, she is also a trustee at Des Moines University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Since joining the firm, Dr. Mason has assisted a variety of leadership searches including president/chancellor, provost/VPAA, and system administration roles for both public and private institutions.

Representative Executive Searches

  • Baylor University - Provost
  • Dakota State University - Provost
  • Florida Institute of Technology - President
  • Marshall University - Dean of Science
  • Portland State University - President
  • St. Cloud State University - President
  • University of Minnesota - President
  • University of Montana - Provost
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison - Chancellor

Experience and Honors

Dr. Mason has held many leadership positions in higher education including president emerita of the University of Iowa and president of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. She served as member of the board of directors of the American Council on Education and of the Board of Directors of Campus Compact. She served as member of the Board of Trustees of the Universities Research Association and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association.

Dr. Mason served as the chair of the Iowa Coordinating Council for Post-High School Education, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science review panel of the NSF Science and Technology Centers Program. In addition, she served as the chair of the Board of Directors Executive Committee of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, chair of the Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources, and co-chair of the Task Force on National Energy Policy and Midwestern Competitiveness of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 

Dr. Mason has been a member of the executive committee of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Executive Committee of the APLU Commission on the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, the Association of Governing Boards Council of Presidents, and the Board on Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies. She was appointed by the President of the United States to three terms on the National Medal of Science President’s Committee. 

Education

  • B.A. in Zoology from the University of Kentucky
  • M.S. degree from Purdue University
  • Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Arizona
  • Received honorary doctorates from the University of Kentucky and the University of Notre Dame