Florida Atlantic University trustees on Monday unanimously selected former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner to serve as the school’s next president, with the Boca Raton Republican promising to “hit the ground running on all cylinders on day one.”

The Board of Trustees’ unanimous vote capped a drawn-out selection process that started in 2023 and was put on hold after state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues intervened following the board’s initial choice of three finalists for the post, citing “anomalies.”

After the search process was rebooted, Hasner and two longtime academics — Michael Hartline, dean of the College of Business at Florida State University, and John Volin, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maine — were selected as finalists in January by the board’s search committee.

The 13-member board interviewed the finalists Monday before unanimously selecting Hasner, who served in the state House from 2002 to 2010, including as majority leader from 2007 to 2010. Hasner also has served as executive vice president of public policy at The GEO Group, a private prison company, since 2016, according to a resume posted on the FAU website.

Hasner’s selection as a finalist for FAU’s top job drew pushback from students and faculty as he toured campuses last week.

Board Chairman Piero Bussani on Monday questioned Hasner about his inexperience in academia.

“Mr. Hasner, much has been made, including this last week, about your lack of experience in higher education. I personally believe the questions are fair, and the concern is fair,” Bussani said, asking Hasner how he “planned to approach learning the language of higher education.”

Hasner pointed to his ties to the community, saying he has been a resident of Boca Raton for 40 years, and noted that, as a lawmaker, he was instrumental in the Legislature’s 2010 decision to add a medical school at FAU.

“I believe my resume is an asset to becoming the next president of the university,” Hasner said.

Hasner also listed other “great examples of university presidents in Florida and elsewhere who don’t come from what some would say is a typical career in academia,” including John Thrasher, a former House speaker who served as president of Florida State University; former Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, who was FAU’s president from 2003 to 2009; University of South Florida President Rhea Law, an attorney; and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who served as president of Purdue University.

“So I know it’s possible, and I know that I have the skills and the acumen to do it,” Hasner said. “With my capacity to learn and with the ability to be able to build these relationships and lead a team, while I may be new to higher education, I’m not new to Florida Atlantic University and I’m not new to this community and I believe I can hit the ground running on all cylinders on day one.”

The board’s question-and-answer session with Hasner also focused on his ability to nail down money from potential donors and the Republican-controlled Legislature.

“I don’t really want to name drop, but I can tell you that I have the relationships with so many of the existing major donors to this university, and I know a lot of other people who are so philanthropically inclined that they have the ability to be investors in the future of this university,” Hasner said.

The selection of Hasner came after the Florida International University Board of Trustees on Friday chose Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez to become the Miami school’s interim president. In recent years, a series of other former Republican lawmakers have been chosen for leadership positions in the education system.

That has included Rodrigues, a former senator, becoming chancellor of the university system; former Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. becoming state education commissioner; former House Speaker Richard Corcoran becoming president of New College of Florida; former Rep. Mel Ponder becoming president of Northwest Florida State College; former Rep. Tommy Gregory becoming president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota; and former Rep. Fred Hawkins becoming president of South Florida State College.

Hasner vowed Monday to steer away from “partisan politics” as president.

“I do not believe that it is politically red or politically blue to be a university president. My mission, singularly, is going to be about advancing the FAU mission, and that means having an environment on all six of our campuses that is welcoming to everybody,” he said.

Trustee Kimberly Dunn, FAU’s Faculty Senate president, said she sought input on Monday’s decision from more than three-dozen former students, alumni, former trustees, administrators and donors. She noted that the three candidates had beards, which she said would have been viewed as a “sign of defiance” 20 or 30 years ago.

“But here we are in the state of Florida in 2025 and facial hair is OK. And as I make my decisions, I acknowledge that we are in Florida in 2025 and the presidential profiles that I have been used to my career, where people come up through academics, is very different in 2025 and in the state of Florida, and I have formed my opinions based on where we are and the times that we’re in,” Dunn said before casting a vote in favor of Hasner.

FAU “is on a precipice of a new time in the university’s future,” trustee Tina Vidal-Duart, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month, said.

She called Hasner a candidate “that’s very well connected in this community, both with corporate and individual donors and foundations, and I think that that’s going to be really critical in securing the financial wherewithal that’s going to be needed to take this university to the next level.”

Other trustees agreed that Hasner’s familiarity with the legislative budget process would be an asset.

Shaun Davis, a trustee appointed in 2016, also praised Hartline and Volin, who graduated from FAU.

“All three of them bring unique positives to the university. One, being in the Legislature, knows those folks, knows where the monies are, and we need to move forward and get additional funding sources,” Davis said.

The board’s decision will go to the state university system’s Board of Governors, which has the final say on presidential selections.

Bussani said the finalists each possessed the “core requirements” for the job, but the board needed to decide which candidate would be the “best possible leader” for the foreseeable future.

“Fast changes are coming, we know. We’re either going to be left behind or be ahead. That requires out-of-the-box thinking, somebody who’s different, somebody who can energize and communicate extremely effectively, getting FAU its fair share of dollars from Tallahassee …,” the chairman said. “I believe that Adam Hasner, if combined with a strong provost, will … take us into the future to meet all these challenges that are coming our way.”