`Targeted` searches called into question

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P OW E R I N G M L I V E .C O M
Sunday, May 19, 2013
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‘Targeted’
searches called
into question
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BY JULIE MACK
JMACK1@MLIVE.COM
MARK BUGNASKI | MLIVE.COM
Ronda Stryker, a philanthropist best known for her work in higher education, is the recipient of the 2013 YWCA Lifetime
Woman of Achievement award. Stryker, 59, will be honored Tuesday at the 29th Annual YWCA Women of Achievement
Award Celebration at the Radisson Plaza Hotel.
Opportunity, achievement
Ronda Stryker’s passion and sense of justice
drive her life and work, lead to YWCA award
KALAMAZOO — The
screensaver on Ronda Stryker’s
iPad is a black-and-white family photo from 1958.
It shows Ronda at age 4 and
her sister, Patricia, who was
about 2, with their grandfather, Homer Stryker, and
a Circo Lectric Bed, one of
Homer Stryker’s most famous
inventions.
That Ronda Stryker cherishes the photo is no surprise
considering the central role
her grandfather has played in
her life. It was the company
he founded that made Ronda
and her two siblings billionaires and a perennial presence
on the Forbes magazine list of
wealthiest Americans.
But even more than money,
Homer Stryker’s legacy for his
grandchildren was instilling
the importance of serving others, helping those less fortunate
and working every day to make
the world a better place.
“It’s all about doing the right
thing because it’s the right
thing, not because someone
is thanking you or because
you’ll get recognition,” said
Annie Johnston, 22, the youngest of Ronda Stryker’s three
children.
It’s a value system Stryker,
59, takes to heart, dating back
to the days when she was a
teenager advocating for racial integration in Kalamazoo
Public Schools and, a few years
later, a young KPS teacher
working with special-education students.
In more recent years, Stryker
has become known as a handson philanthropist who — much
like her grandfather — combines an idealist’s passion with
a pragmatist’s eye for problemsolving.
Stryker, who has served on
the Stryker Corp. board for
almost 30 years, is the only
Stryker family member with a
direct role in the company.
Together with Bill Johnston,
her husband of 30 years, Stryker has invested considerable
time and money into her hometown. Although the couple’s
A 1958 photo
of Dr. Homer
Stryker, founder
of Stryker
Corp., shows his
granddaughters,
Patricia, 2, on his
shoulders, and
Ronda, 4. They
are pictured
with a Circo
Lectic Bed, one
of Stryker’s
most famous
inventions.
COURTESY | ANNIE JOHNSTON
modeling as a volunteer and/
or in a career.”
The YWCA cited Stryker’s
“passion for the causes that
she cares about,” as well as
the effectiveness of her philanthropic efforts, which range
from serving on the board of
Spelman College, a historically
black liberal arts college for
women; to working on reproductive health issues in the
Third World; to involvement
with local institutations such
as Kalamazoo College and
the Kalamazoo Community
Foundation.
A common theme among
Stryker’s causes is empowering
women and minorities through
education, particularly higher
education.
“Racism and sexism make
me crazy,” she said during a recent interview. “I’ve been that
way since I was born.”
Johnston agrees his wife is
outspoken. “You always know
where Ronda stands” and that
includes her passion on social
justice issues, he said.
“Any unfairness or injustice
is something that Ronda just
can’t tolerate,” he said. “It’s part
of the fabric of her being. ... She
has a passion for things that
matter.”
A Kalamazoo upbringing
Perhaps not coincidentally,
it was a passion for things that
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penchant for anonymous donations makes the true scope
of their impact unclear — “It’s
about humility and not seeking
the limelight,” Johnston said
— they are among Kalamazoo
County’s most influential residents, ensuring that Stryker
money and Stryker Corp. continue as a powerful, positive
force in the community.
In recognition of her accomplishments, Stryker on Tuesday
will receive the 2013 YWCA
Lifetime Woman of Achievement award, which honors a
Kalamazoo-area resident who
has “demonstrated a lifetime
of outstanding contributions
to the well-being of the community, state or nation, and has
a record of accomplishment,
leadership and positive role
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BY EMILY MONACELLI
EMONACEL@MLIVE.COM
KALAMAZOO — Five
people interested in leading
Kalamazoo city government
through a time of transition
and downsizing will get a
chance next week to make
their cases to the Kalamazoo
City Commission on why
they are a fit for the job.
Sixty-minute public interviews with each candidate
are scheduled to start at
noon Tuesday in the secondfloor commission chambers
at Kalamazoo City Hall, 241
W. South St.
The finalists chosen by
city commissioners from a
candidate pool of 47 earlier
this month include managers of Michigan cities, an
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economic development director and a deputy state treasurer. All have experience as city
managers. Six finalists had been
scheduled to interview for the
Kalamazoo job, but Odis Jones,
director of economic development for the city of Cincinnati,
Ohio, said Friday that he was
dropping his candidacy.
Kalamazoo city government
is in the late phases of an early
retirement program instituted
in 2011 to erase a $6-million
budget deficit. More than 200
employees have retired, some of
whom have been replaced, but
the workforce will have been
reduced from 733 employees to
634 by the end of 2013. Those
accepting the retirement offer
include current City Manager
Kenneth Collard, Deputy City
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City manager
candidate interviews
Tuesday at City Hall
345-6900
4577288-02
BY JULIE MACK
JMACK1@MLIVE.COM
KALAMAZOO — Portage Public Schools and the
Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency are both
using a so-called “targeted”
search process to pick a new
leader, a strategy getting more
attention in Michigan but raising questions about board
transparency and accountability — not to mention compliance with Michigan law.
“Targeted search” largely
refers to a strategy of recruiting a pool of select candidates
versus posting the job and taking applications. It also can
refer to presenting a single
“targeted” candidate to the
public as the sole finalist for
the job.
Supporters of targeted
searches say they are more
efficient and allow for recruitment of better candidates.
“It’s a different world now,”
KRESA Superintendent Ron
Fuller said. “You’re going to
start seeing targeted searches more and more. Targeted
searches make all the sense
in the world,” particularly at a
time when there is a dearth of
high-quality superintendent
applicants.
Others see targeted searches as an end run around the
spirit if not the letter of the
Michigan law, which requires
the search process to be largely
conducted in the public eye.
“A targeted search can be a
mechanism to avoid all the
requirements of the Open Meetings Act,” said Robin Luce Herrmann, legal counsel for the
Michigan Press Association and
an expert on the OMA.
In fact, the concerns are such
that the Michigan Association of
School Boards, one of the largest
providers of search consultants
in the state, refuses to do a targeted process.
“I don’t believe in them,” said
Dick Dunham, who heads the
MASB’s superintendent search
services.
Dunham said Michigan has
one of the more restrictive laws
in the country in regards to what
can happen behind closed doors
when public bodies are conducting leadership searches.
The law allows elected bodies to review job applications in
closed session if the candidates
have requested confidentiality.
But the discussion and decision about narrowing the pool
of candidates and deciding who
to interview must be made in
public. In addition, those interviews also must be conducted
in public; private interviews are
forbidden.
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