The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents decided to discontinue its partnership with the search firm Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates for its role in the search to find the next University president, according to a statement released Wednesday.

The University has chosen AGB Search to replace Storbeck/Pimentel. Michigan State University chose Storbeck/Pimentel to select its next president, which has created confusion for potential candidates, according to the statement. 

Representatives from AGB Search will meet with Presidential Search Advisory Committee this week. The change in search firms is said to not interfere with the timeline to find the next University president. All current candidate files will be transferred to AGB Search. 

AGB Search will be paid $150,000, in addition to other expenses. Storbeck/Pimentel will refund the initial payment of almost $75,000 and no additional payments will be made. 

“We did not make this decision lightly,” said Board of Regents Chair David McMillan in the statement. “We needed a firm dedicated to finding the next great leader of the University of Minnesota. Accordingly, we have discontinued our engagement with Storbeck/Pimentel and retained AGB Search to complete our presidential search. Our search timeline will not be impacted by this change.” 

Regents were unaware of Storbeck/Pimentel’s search history, which included an unsuccessful search at the University. Storbeck/Pimentel selected Scott Studham as one of the finalists to be the University’s Chief Information Officer in 2011, who was later asked to resign by University president Eric Kaler due to allegations of misconduct at his previous place of employment. 

This is a breaking news report, more information will be added as it becomes available.