Longtime dean of the Muma College of Business, Moez Limayem, was chosen as the UNF president-elect by the university’s Board of Trustees (BOT) in a Monday morning meeting.

He was among four finalists, and received unanimous support from the trustees after just an hour of deliberation in a meeting scheduled to last four, according to the UNF Spinnaker. The Florida Board of Governors is scheduled to approve Limayem at its June 29 meeting.

Limayem has been at USF for about 10 years, leading the college which currently houses 7,000 students. Moving to UNF, he will preside over a university of about 17,000 students.

In a press release sent out Monday, Limayem spoke highly of his time at USF and expressed excitement for his future endeavors at UNF.

“Serving as the dean of the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida for the last decade has been a joy and I am extremely proud of the accomplishments that, collectively, we have made,” he wrote in the release.

“I am honored to be selected as president-elect and will continue discussions with UNF about this role.”

Muma College of Business Director of Communications and External Relations Lorie Briggs said Limayem has been able to “strategically and boldly” solve challenges in the college.

“Dean Limayem is a remarkable, charismatic leader,” she said. “He has been able to share his vision for the college with others in a way that makes people want to be a part of it. From the donors whose generosity has provided the financial support to launch new programs to the faculty and advisors who bring those new ideas to life, he has been able to lead us all with one mantra: being an outstanding business school benefits students and helps them launch their careers and change their lives.”

When Limayem will end his tenure at USF was unknown at the time of publication, but President Rhea Law said in a universitywide email Monday that a nationwide search for a successor will be conducted. Further details are not known at the moment.

The Muma College of Business has received numerous multimillion-dollar donations while Limayem has been dean. His history of fundraising for the university was a key reason for his support from the BOT.

Most recently, long-time donors Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton collectively contributed $14 million on April 18 for the St. Pete School of Business and Finance’s new fintech center, which opened April 11.

The Bellini Center for Talent Development on the Tampa campus also received a gift this semester of $10.6 million on March 24. The donation was to maintain the center’s project to secure paid internships for all business students. The college currently has 5,178 undergraduate and 1,793 graduate students.

Other donations include three naming gifts. Pam and Les Muma gifted $25 million in 2014 to aid the college in reaching top ranks nationwide, making it the largest gift in USF history.

Lynn Pippenger has provided over $22 million in total, including $10 million to name the School of Accountancy after her in 2015, and $5 million in 2020 to create the endowed deanship for the college.

Barron Gift Collier III and his wife, Dana, gave the college $10.85 million in 2015 for a student success and career preparedness program unit, resulting in the Collier Student Success Center.

Limayem expressed gratitude toward all donors, and marked them as a key reason for the university’s success.

“I must thank, of course, the donors who invested in our college and made so many of our new initiatives, new programs and bold changes possible,” he wrote in the release.

“Their major gifts, combined with the gifts of hundreds of individual donors, corporate sponsors and faculty and staff, made it possible for this college to become a rising star in this university, in the greater Tampa Bay community and among our academic peers. I am thankful for the support.”

This story was updated.