Abiódún Gòkè-Pariolá, who last month was tapped as the 12th president of North Central College, says a need for stability, prudency and leadership during a period of flux for the Naperville institution is the impetus behind his appointment.
On July 18, North Central’s Board of Trustees selected Gòkè-Pariolá, 69, to lead the college for at least the next two years after the institution found itself with a vacancy at its helm.
For the past year, Anita Thomas has served as president. She was the first woman and person of color to lead the college in its 163-year history. But her tenure was short-lived.
Thomas went on a personal leave of absence from the college at the end of May. It was announced July 8 that she would not be returning once that leave ended July 30. In her absence, Gòkè-Pariolá, who has been North Central’s provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2015, stepped in as acting president.
Gòkè-Pariolá had seven weeks of filling the post temporarily under his belt when college trustees decided to make the title permanent so that he could lead them through a “transitional period” that would last through at least 2026, when a search for a new president is to begin.
Historically, North Central has picked a new leader by conducting a national presidential search. But this time around, it was decided a search wasn’t the best path forward given the priorities the college still faced in Thomas’ wake, according to Gòkè-Pariolá, speaking in a recent interview.
Rather, trustees sought a steadying hand, he said.
“I think the board wanted stability for the college in terms of leadership,” he said. And with stability, uninterrupted progress.
The concern was that if trustees started their search now, it would take one to two years before someone was not only appointed president but also comfortable enough in the role to start making any headway on what the college needs accomplished, Gòkè-Pariolá said.
“You can’t do anything if you’re going to start a search even next year,” he said. “… I think, from the board’s perspective, if you have leadership in place and a team around that can (do the job), why would you (start a search)? It doesn’t make sense.”
The college has stated that a presidential search wouldn’t start until spring 2026. Gòkè-Pariolá says that is the soonest a search would get underway and that it may be later.
Gòkè-Pariolá is prepared to be North Central’s president for as long as necessary, he said.
“I’m not looking to go anywhere,” he said. “This is where I plan to end my career. I will serve as long as I am needed.”
With Gòkè-Pariolá named president, his previous role as provost and vice president for academic affairs will be filled for the interim by Kristin Geraty, who had previously held the role of North Central’s associate provost and dean of engaged learning, the college announced Wednesday. Geraty is the first woman to serve as the college’s chief academic officer.
Asked what priorities facing the college will be a focus of his transitional term, Gòkè-Pariolá said there are at least four key concerns: ensuring the college is financially stable in future years; strategizing ways to recruit students and keep enrollment up; bolstering fundraising efforts; and guaranteeing student success.
Gòkè-Pariolá added the college also has facility needs that are expected to surface in the next two to three years.
Speaking specifically to the college’s current financial position, Gòkè-Pariolá stressed that North Central is in “a very strong situation” but officials want to be “sure that we have a model that allows us to be successful long term.”
To ensure priorities are met, or at the least budgeted near-term, the college will be putting together a multiyear strategic plan, Gòkè-Pariolá said. And again, to get that plan rolling, the college needed someone at the helm straightaway.
“(I think the board) saw a marriage between what they would like the college to do and what resources, in terms of human talent, are available and thought we have an alignment. … We have what we need to move forward as an institution,” he said.
Gòkè-Pariolá says he feels exceptionally honored trustees “had the confidence to entrust this institution to me at this moment.”
“It’s one of the most humbling things I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Gratifying, too.
Education is very special to Gòkè-Pariolá, he said. Through his career, he has amassed 48 years of teaching and administrative experience at universities in Nigeria — where he was born — and the United States. But his love of education goes back further than his profession.
Gòkè-Pariolá owes that reverence to his father, who earned his bachelor’s degree 74 years ago in Nigeria, he said.
“That was very rare,” Gòkè-Pariolá said. “He was the first person in my hometown of about 50,000 people to get a college degree in 1950.”
And that “transformed the lives of all of his children,” he said. Gòkè-Pariolá has six brothers and sisters, all of whom went on to pursue higher education, he said.
“It changed our lives. And to me, that’s what keeps me here … (the) opportunity for me to bring that gift.”
The ability to lead change is what has taken him to every position he held in his career, Gòkè-Pariolá said. That’s what brought him to North Central nine years ago.
He’s ready to continue to do the same as president.
“I think all of us, we come into the world and one of the things we have to do is say what gifts we have to share,” he said. “For me, it’s not perfect, but this is something that I think I tend to do well: try and bring people together to look to the future and do the difficult work of making change possible.”