Clarification appended.University trustee Meyer Koplow '72 has stepped down from the chairmanship of the Presidential Search Committee following his nomination for University president by a faculty member, according to Chair of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman in an e-mail to the Brandeis community last Tuesday. Sherman appointed Stephen Kay, a member of the search committee and past chair of the Board of Trustees, as the new chair of the Presidential Search Committee.

According to Sherman's campuswide e-mail, Koplow said after learning of his nomination, "It is only appropriate that I step down from my position as chairman, and I will not serve the committee in any capacity."

Koplow did not respond to requests for further comment by press time.

"I understand and respect [Koplow's] decision to leave the search committee, and want to thank him for the outstanding job he has done to get us to this point in the process," Sherman wrote in the e-mail.

The Presidential Search Committee was created after University President Jehuda Reinharz announced his intention to resign in a Sept. 24 campuswide e-mail.

Reinharz will remain in his current position until a new president has been selected or until June 30, 2011, according to a Sept. 24 University press release.

Koplow will continue to serve as chair of the Board of Trustees' Budget and Finance Committee and as a member of the Board's Executive Committee.

Koplow is also a managing partner at Watchtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a business law firm in New York.

"I have actively participated in search committee meetings and as a former chair of the Board of Trustees and the investment and budget and finance committees, as well as a current member of the executive committee, I am well-versed in university matters. So it's a seamless transition, and my objective is to move this process along," Kay wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

Kay also wrote in his e-mail, "[Koplow] did a very good job of getting [the Presidential Search Committee] to this point and we will continue on that path. The dynamics of this committee have been great due to the mix of talented, committed people who are serving and I expect that to continue."

When asked if faculty members have nominated other candidates for the presidential post, Sherman wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "The nominating process is confidential and the committee will not publicly release those details. An exception was made in [Koplow's] case because of the unique situation."

In an update on the Presidential Search Web site last night, Kay announced the selection of the search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, "a minority- and female-owned business specializing in executive-level searches for colleges, universities, independent schools and not-for-profits" to help in the search process.

Storbeck/Pimentel, which is based in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, has conducted presidential searches at Dartmouth College, Wellesley College and Rice University, among others.

"Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates will assist Brandeis in recruiting, interviewing, reference and background checks and overall guidance as we conduct the search," Kay wrote in the online update.

One of the managing partners, Shelly Weiss Storbeck, and partner Charles Bunting will lead the Storbeck/Pimentel team on the presidential search.

Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates could not be reached by press time.

Clarification: The print and original online versions of this story stated that Meyer Koplow stepped down to accept a faculty nomination. Koplow stepped down following a faculty nomination with no comment on accepting it.