Iowa Board of Regents president announces resignation with three years left on term

The 22nd State Board of Regents President is stepping down with three years left on his fourth term.

Mike Richards announced he is resigning after serving eight years with the governing body of Iowa's three public universities (Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa), seven of which were as president.

Board of Regents President pro tem Sherry Bates will assume the role vacated by Richards and will serve as interim president until the board elects a new president at a future meeting.

Richards' final term was set to expire in April of 2027. The West Des Moines resident will remain a Regents member through April 30 of this year.

“Serving as a member of the Board has been a true honor and privilege,” Richards said in a statement. “I want to publicly thank Governor Reynolds and Governor Branstad who gave me the opportunity to serve in this important role. I also want to thank all the Regents that I have served with, as well as the university presidents, and Board and university staff members that I have had the pleasure of working alongside."

First appointed to the Board of Regents in 2016 by then-Gov. Terry Branstad, Richards was elected board president a year later, the first of four consecutive terms. His peers reelected him for consecutive terms in 2018, 2020 and 2022. He was reappointed to the board by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021.

Richards is stepping aside to spend more time with his friends and family, a regents spokesperson told the Press-Citizen late Tuesday. He said he is resigning now but serving on the board through April to provide additional time to find a replacement.

" I am making this announcement now to allow for a smooth transition in leadership and to hopefully give Governor Reynolds ample time to find and name my replacement," Richards said in a statement released Tuesday.

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A long career in the medical field

Richards boasts several decades of experience in the medical profession.

He is a 1970 University of Iowa graduate and obtained a medical degree from the University of Iowa School of Medicine in 1974.

He worked in the medical field in Des Moines for more than 20 years and was even the first chief medical officer with Iowa Health System, now UnityPoint Health. Richards also served as a previous president of the Dowling Foundation and was a Minnesota Children's Hospital board member in Minneapolis before joining the Regents.

Richards was a managing partner of Quatro Composites before his retirement in 2017, a company "specializing in manufacturing carbon composite equipment for the aerospace and medical industries," according to the Regents website.

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Powering through a pandemic

Richards led the regents and regent universities through the COVID-19 pandemic as president, though not without controversy over mask and vaccine policies. The policies often matched state guidelines but caused a stir in densely populated college towns like Iowa City, which saw an uptick in COVID cases as school kicked off in the fall of 2020 and 2021.

Bruce Rastetter held the Board of Regents president role from 2013-2017 before Richards took over.

“I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished over the past seven years," Richards said in a statement. "Our public universities are among the finest in the nation, and I have enjoyed the collaborative relationship to find ways to continue to improve."

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa Board of Regents President Mike Richards resigns after 7 years