Randy Boyd may have earned himself another five years as president of the University of Tennessee System.
On Friday, during a UT Board of Trustees meeting in Pulaski, Boyd reviewed for the board progress over his years as leader of the system, which includes UT Knoxville, UT Southern and UT Martin.
At the end of his presentation, Boyd expressed his love for UT and his job and said wife Jenny had recently told him he's got her blessing if he wants to keep doing what he's doing "if the board was willing to let me. So I just wanted to let you know that.”
The independently wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist is a full-time president -- some might say president and a half -- while drawing no salary. He gets $10,000 to cover insurance costs.
Boyd's remarks prompted Board President John Compton to jump in and say he'd be happy to begin checking with various system stakeholders about the idea of Boyd continuing as president.
Boyd's five-year term formally ends in June 2025, Compton said. He noted that without a renewal, the board would have to start thinking this summer about his replacement.
“I just can’t imagine the next five years without you in the chair," Compton told Boyd. ”You’ve done an amazing job. And I think collectively this board fully supports everything you and this collective team have been doing. I’ll take it as my job if the board wishes for me to do so to work with you to get this to the next step, and we will bring this to fruition in the near future.”
At the end of the meeting the board formally endorsed further exploration of Boyd staying on as president through June 2030.
Boyd, a UT graduate, and Jenny Boyd created the Boyd Foundation in 2018 to promote youth education, mental health, the arts and animal welfare. The Boyds and the foundation support the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the Haslam College of Business at UT.
The Boyds, Jenny Boyd in particular, also have donated millions to help build a new Carousel Theatre on campus. The new theater will be called the Jenny Boyd Carousel Theatre. Fundraising is ongoing.
In other action Friday, the board gave its approval for UTK to go forward with plans for a public/private partnership to build a huge residence hall with approximately 1,000 beds at Lake Loudoun and Volunteer boulevards. It's expected to open in fall 2026 and is estimated to cost roughly $160 million.
The financing report also included plans for renovations to Thompson Boling Arena at Food City Center. The Tennessee General Assembly still needs to approve the budget, but UT is hoping to move forward with the projected $85 million project to renovate the arena inside and out.
The board also gave its approval for UTK to create a nonprofit foundation for the athletics department. It will go to "support the university’s athletics program and student-athletes moving forward."
Trustee Bill Rhodes noted: "I want to make it clear they have to come back to this full body of the board before they do any fundraising and those kind of things so we have a chance to understand the governance and the purpose, all those things. But we gave (Chancellor Donde Plowman) our support for that and would ask the board to do it as well."
