Emily Parker Myers

Emily Parker Myers currently serves as an advisor - Higher Education, leading the firm's higher education executive searches. She has served as Chief Executive Officer of Myers McRae from July 2008 until January 2023. While CEO, Ms. Myers broadened the firm’s scope and modernized processes, emphasizing responsiveness, timeliness, effectiveness, and affordability. While utilizing new technology in the executive search process, Ms. Myers is committed to the firm having person-to-person connections with candidates and clients remain at the center of every search.

Under Ms. Myers's accomplished leadership, Myers McRae has received national recognition. The editors and analysts at Hunt Scanlon Media recently named Myers McRae as one of the "Top 50 Education / Non-Profit Search Firms" in its Executive Search Review. The company stated the selected firms are considered the most prominent trailblazers in education and non-profit searches.

Known for her leadership expertise and commitment to excellence, Ms. Myers brings to the firm's searches her extensive firsthand knowledge and experience in higher education administration. For most of her career, she served as Senior Vice President of University Advancement and External Affairs at Mercer University, a private, doctoral university with high research activity (R2) with campuses in Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbus and Regional Academic Centers in Henry and Douglas counties across Georgia. When appointed in 1979, she became Mercer's first female senior vice president and was one of only 25 women in higher education across the nation to lead an advancement program.

During her 29-year tenure in Advancement, Mercer University experienced its most significant growth in size and prominence, establishing seven of the university’s eleven schools and colleges, including schools of engineering and medicine; an academic press; a performing arts center, and an engineering research center. She led a team of more than 90 professionals, including development, university relations and marketing, alumni services, government affairs, foundation relations, admissions, financial aid, and more, in successfully securing the financial resources needed for the university's steady growth. She also directed the recruitment of more than 1,000 volunteers to serve on Mercer's boards and committees.

At Mercer, she chaired or served on numerous executive search committees for the university's key administrators, including the president; provosts; executive vice presidents; deans of the medical, law,  and engineering schools; senior vice presidents of finance and administration; vice presidents for student affairs; and Athletics Director.

In recognition of her profound and enduring influence on the university, Mercer's Board of Trustees voted in 2010 to name the new admissions and welcome center in her honor. The Emily Parker Myers Admissions and Welcome Center on Mercer’s historic Macon campus was dedicated in 2012 and is the university’s first LEED-certified building.

A graduate of Florida State University, Ms. Myers also has held administrative positions at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, and Stetson University School of Law, St. Petersburg, Florida. She has served on numerous professional national, state, and local boards and committees, She was appointed by two governors to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Authority, of which she served as chair and co-chair, before retiring from the board in November 2020.

Mercer Honors Emily Parker Myers:  Read Article

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Honors Emily Parker Myers: Read Article