Credentials, not politics, won her the Ivy Tech job, Ellspermann says

Trustees Chairwoman Paula Hughes said Ellspermann's experience in higher education, public service and workforce development distinguished her as presidential timber.

"She is someone who has demonstrated the ability to cast a strategic vision and collaboratively lead and work with a diverse group of stakeholders," Hughes said.

Nevertheless, eyebrows were raised inside and outside the Statehouse in March when Ellspermann resigned as the state's No. 2 elected official in anticipation of becoming Ivy Tech president.

Many recalled the minor campus protests that erupted in 2012 when then-Gov. Mitch Daniels was elected president of Purdue University by trustees he had appointed.

Ellspermann insists she was shown no special favors and participated in the Ivy Tech selection process just like every other candidate hoping to succeed retiring President Thomas Snyder.

"The Ivy Tech Board of Trustees just really had a tremendous process and it was a true honor to be part of that process," Ellspermann said. "I'm very confident that I brought credentials that stood on their own."

Her credentials

Ellspermann, 56, holds a doctorate in industrial engineering, worked as an engineer for several major corporations and previously was director of the University of Southern Indiana's Center for Applied Research.

She served one term in the Indiana House and in 2012 was elected by Hoosier voters as Pence's lieutenant governor, where she led the state agencies overseeing agriculture, rural affairs, defense development, housing, entrepreneurship and tourism.

The Republican said as Ivy Tech president she no longer will participate in politics, similar to Daniels' pledge of political celibacy upon being named Purdue president.

She is not restricted, however, from advocating for Ivy Tech at the Statehouse during the 2017 legislative session where lawmakers will decide the details of Indiana's next two-year spending plan.

Ellspermann conceded her decision to seek the Ivy Tech post was more public than most job interviews. But she said when you're lieutenant governor and are considering taking a new job during an election year, you have to make your intentions known.

Indeed, after some convincing, Pence endorsed Ellspermann for the Ivy Tech presidency, and even penned a four-page letter of recommendation to the college's trustees lauding, among other qualities, her role as vice chairwoman of the Indiana Career Council.

"There will always be people who will want there to be a deeper or another story to it," Ellspermann said.

But she pointed out that if her secret goal is to run for governor in 2020, as some whisper it is, she would have stayed in her old job, because many more lieutenant governors have become the state's chief executive than college presidents.

"This (Ivy Tech post) is really something that I consider a tremendous honor," Ellspermann said. "I really believe that this middle-skills workforce development is really the most important challenge that we as a state have to solve over the next few years."

Trustees praise qualifications

Hughes added that while Ivy Tech trustees are appointed by the governor, they are appointed for their individual integrity and devotion to the college. The trustees never would sacrifice that on the altar of politics, she said.

"It was not an easy decision. We spent a lot of time on it. We feel very good about it," Hughes said.

"The state is going to see what we have seen and in a different role for Dr. Ellspermann. You've seen her as lieutenant governor. I think you should just stand back and watch what she's going to do as the president of Ivy Tech."

Trustee Stewart McMillan, CEO of Valparaiso's Task Force Tips, Inc., said choosing among the three presidential finalists was "the most difficult hiring decision I've made in my 40-year career."

"In the end, it came for me down to who can we get up to speed the fastest and move the college forward," he said. "The knowledge that Sue has of the state and of the people in the state, and the needs of the state and how Ivy Tech could fill those needs, for me was the deciding factor."