The UW System Board of Regents announced in a press release that Raymond Cross will be the next president of the UW System. He was the third internal candidate to be promoted to his position, taking the job after being the Chancellor of the UW Colleges and UW Extension since 2011. Previously he served as the president of Morrisville State College and president of the Northwest Technical College in Bemidji, Minnesota. He is also a decorated U.S. army veteran having served in the Vietnam War, and he worked as a design engineer, small business owner, and government employee prior to entering the field of higher education.

This announcement comes on the heels of former President Kevin Reilly’s resignation in December, after nine years in office, to advise the American Council on Education. Cross will face a series of challenges in the wake of Reilly’s resignation, working with the Republican majority legislature and combatting rising tuition costs state-wide. Fortunately, he has established strong respect from the regents and his appointment has received praise across the board from leading government officials including both Governor Scott Walker and UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. WPR interviewed him on January 14, 2014, and more information on his outlook and plans for the future of the UW-System can be found here.

This post was authored by Jake Heyka, an intern at the Hamilton Consulting Group.