New year, new me? The 2025-2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report
By: Dakota Doman, ZRG Managing Director and HBCU Practice Leader & William Broussard
A year of controversy at institutions with permanent leadership and a future rife with challenge and opportunity overshadows a historically slow year of executive leadership change.
After several years of significant leadership change across Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the latest data tells a more nuanced story.
In ZRG’s 2025–2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report, Managing Director Dakota Doman, co-authoring with William Broussard, examines the state of presidential leadership across the sector. HBCUs announced 20 executive leadership changes during the year, the lowest number since the report began tracking turnover in 2015–2016. But fewer transitions do not necessarily mean the period of change is over.
More than half of the HBCUs studied are led by presidents in their first three years, while median presidential tenure sits at just under three years. The report explores what that means for institutions whose leaders are still building teams, aligning with boards, addressing enrollment and financial pressures, and moving from transition into execution. It also examines differences across public and private institutions, interim leadership, and gender representation.
The result is a useful look at a sector moving beyond a wave of vacancies and into an equally important period: creating the conditions for relatively new leaders to succeed.
Read the full 2025–2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report on ZRG: https://www.zrgpartners.com/insights/2025-2026-hbcu-executive-leadership-turnover-report
New year, new me? The 2025-2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report
By: Dakota Doman, ZRG Managing Director and HBCU Practice Leader & William Broussard
A year of controversy at institutions with permanent leadership and a future rife with challenge and opportunity overshadows a historically slow year of executive leadership change.
After several years of significant leadership change across Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the latest data tells a more nuanced story.
In ZRG’s 2025–2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report, Managing Director Dakota Doman, co-authoring with William Broussard, examines the state of presidential leadership across the sector. HBCUs announced 20 executive leadership changes during the year, the lowest number since the report began tracking turnover in 2015–2016. But fewer transitions do not necessarily mean the period of change is over.
More than half of the HBCUs studied are led by presidents in their first three years, while median presidential tenure sits at just under three years. The report explores what that means for institutions whose leaders are still building teams, aligning with boards, addressing enrollment and financial pressures, and moving from transition into execution. It also examines differences across public and private institutions, interim leadership, and gender representation.
The result is a useful look at a sector moving beyond a wave of vacancies and into an equally important period: creating the conditions for relatively new leaders to succeed.
Read the full 2025–2026 HBCU Executive Leadership Turnover Report on ZRG: https://www.zrgpartners.com/insights/2025-2026-hbcu-executive-leadership-turnover-report
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