The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee Post • August 16, 2013 OPINION Leading UW when gale winds blow By JOHN TORINUS The search for a replacement for Kevin Reilly as University of Wisconsin System president gives the Board of Regents a chance to take a hard look at where the system finds itself in a rapidly changing world. As it comes to conclusions about where the UW System needs to go in the next decade, it will determine what the profile of the next president should be. The time-honored answer for the presidency was to pick an academic with a modicum of administrative and leadership chops. Reilly, who has held the job for almost a decade, is an Irish literature scholar who had been head of the UW-Extension. His predecessor, Katharine Lyall, who also served for about a decade, is a labor economist who had been an executive in the UW System. There is every reason to expect that the next president will serve a decade or so. So what macro trends will the new president face over the next 10 years? Here are a few that leap to mind: University finances will continue to be stressed as health costs chew up revenue increases coming into state coffers and claim an ever-larger portion of each campus' budget. The university and other societal priorities will be crowded out until the state's political leaders muster the gumption to start managing health cost inflation. That could take a while. For the same reasons, tuitions will keep rising to cover the out-of-control costs, and that trend will meet with increasing resentment of parents and students. Parents and students will look to alternate ways to get an education without loading a young person with a lifetime of debt. Free online education is just one example of such an alternative. The new UW Flexible Degree is one response. Pressure is already growing for more sophisticated financial management of the university's sprawling assets. As an example, off-balance sheet foundations in Madison already hold more than $6 billion in assets. The next UW leader will have to start managing the system's balance sheet on a consolidated basis. The recent flap over the appropriate level of reserves is another example of that financial management challenge. Revenue from sources other than state taxes and tuition will be needed to keep the state's 26 UW campuses viable. The best-endowed universities in the country are those with the most successful entrepreneurs as alumni. In general, the UW System has lagged in promoting startups. Recent efforts are promising, but UW is still way behind universities that understand technology transfer means startups, not just patents and licenses. Global issues from economics to war and peace will have to be in the curriculum for a world-class university as it trains our next generation of leaders. These challenges call for a new university business model. Other industries, such as health care, publishing, airlines, information technology and retail, face similar disruptions in their business models. It will take a nimble strategic leader to assess the trends, devise a strategy and then to execute the transition to a new model. That would point to a president who has trained to be an executive, but also with a deft political hand. Someone like Mitch Daniels, a former business executive, White House budget czar, governor of Indiana and now head of Purdue University, comes to mind. Most business executives would not fit the bill, but some would. So would some nonprofit executives and some political leaders. In his prime, Tommy Thompson had that kind of profile. Steve Bablitch, a seasoned executive in the private, public and nonprofit spheres, could do the job. UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mike Lovell has demonstrated an ability to engage the business world as partners in making education more engaged and entrepreneurial. GE produces politically adept executives with a worldview. One profile that will not work is that of a caretaker, a steward of the status quo. The gale winds blowing at the university demand a leader for the decade who can see the opportunities more than the challenges, who can shape the resources of the state's best asset to a refreshed vision. (John Torinus is chairman of the board of Serigraph Inc. in West Bend and a past editor of the West Bend Daily News.) Roadrunner Transportation to sell 3.5M shares of stock Post Staff CUDAHY – Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc. announced Tuesday that it has started a public offering of 3.5 million shares of common stock, of which 1.5 million shares are being offered by the company and the remaining shares are being offered by stockholders. The Cudahy-based leading asset-light transportation and logistics services provider said the offering is subject to market conditions and there are no assur- ances made as to whether or when the offering may be completed. The selling stockholders will grant the underwriters in the offering an option to purchase up to 525,000 additional shares of common stock at the same price per share to cover any over-allotments, according to a company announcement. Money raised by the sale will be used to repay a portion of the outstanding debt under Roadrunner's revolving line of credit and for other general corporate purposes, according to the company. Readers Forum Previously we asked: , Will the recent fast-food protests spur a higher minimum wage? You answered: "Food protests might spur an increase in minimum wage and that's a good thing. Minimum wage is much lower than it's ever been, adjusted for inflation. Minimum wage worker make the least of anyone in America, and they make less than the people who made minimum wage did 50 years ago." – Jerome McCollom Milwaukee "The wage is now $7.25.There's no reason why they can't raise it to $8 an hour." – Don Tuttle Milwaukee "Yes, they will succeed, providing they continue to speak up. No. 1, they should not give up. No. 2, ask for fair treatment. And No. 3, ask for raises tied to the consumer price index put out by the U.S. government. That might succeed in that effort." – George Wesdell Greendale "No, only if they can walk off the job across the country and Canada at the same day and time. Sending petitions to the state and federal lawmakers and the president would also help.The wage increase wouldn't cause a burden to the various companies." – Marilyn Faucett Milwaukee Question of the week Can the state Legislature do anything to help Milwaukee tackle its recent violent crime wave? Call 744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer to the Question of the Week along with your full name with spelling, phone number and city. No address is required. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dbutler@conleynet.com.

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