Utah higher ed boss raised leadership bar

Rich Kendell's announced retirement as commissioner of Utah's higher-education system comes just when he is on a roll. Aside from his stubbornness, the other thing wrong about Kendell is that he was a Union Pacific Railroad brat. He couldn't accept the fact that the Rio Grande Railroad was the best. We both grew up with fathers who worked for competing railroads, and there was always a strong competition between families as to which was the best railroad. Kendell defends public education with the same passion. That is what makes him such a strong and effective leader.

Rich has raised the leadership bar for whoever becomes the next commissioner. He demonstrates the most important thing leaders bring to an organization — vision and the ability to make it happen. While I saw Rich as a hard-working professional educator when we both worked at the University of Utah, his leadership skills came out when he became superintendent of the Davis School District. His ability to make the transition from higher to public education is an indication of his understanding and commitment to education in a free society.

While we differ on some matters of public policy, I have never doubted his commitment to the education of our young people. Rich is the consummate professional, always appearing intellectual, but when it comes to defending public education, one can see his fighting spirit. Coming from a working-class family, he seemed to have a special understanding of the importance of educating all children. Though I have been critical of the Board of Regents' solution to focus primarily on enrolling disadvantaged students in higher education, his efforts to attract those students says much about his values.

Moving bureaucracies, especially education, calls for special talents. It's rare when you find those skills in one person, but Rich possesses them as he maneuvers through the various political, bureaucratic barriers, vested interests and a multitude of egos. His understanding of the principles of education, and his hands-on experience in translating policy into action, coupled with his vision and persistence (I call it stubbornness), made it possible for the advancement of education in Utah. One of the most important, though less flashy, changes was making the concurrent enrollment of high school with college possible.