When University of Hawaii President David Lassner announced a year ago he would be retiring by the end of 2024, we, the UH Board of Regents, understood that selecting the next president to lead the 10-campus UH system — the state’s sole provider of public higher education — is the most important thing we will do during our terms as regents.

We have fully embraced the responsibility and weight of making this important decision, knowing that any decision will be questioned by some. The criticism we have received since the two finalists were announced on Sept. 11 is just proof of how much people of Hawaii care about UH and its importance to the state.

From the start, we have been committed to a thorough and inclusive search process starting with an online survey that received 2,092 responses and a series of public forums on Hawaii island, Kauai, Maui and Oahu that more than 500 people participated in. We wanted to know what people think UH needs most in a new leader; what goals, values and capabilities they should possess; and the most critical areas the new president will need to address in the next three to five years.

The 12-person Presidential Search Advisory Group (PSAG) was established to assist the regents and ensured representation of all UH stakeholder groups throughout the process, including student, faculty, staff and Native Hawaiian governance groups. The PSAG and the regents utilized the feedback from the survey and forums to develop the leadership profile and position description.

The profile and description were used to solicit candidates with great success. There were 93 applicants, all of whom expressed a strong desire to lead UH. The PSAG reviewed and assessed the initial candidate applications. Those members identified and, with the regents’ approval, interviewed 12 semifinalists, which led ultimately, then, to identification of the two finalists.

There is criticism for the lack of at least one “local” finalist, which we assume refers to someone who lives in Hawaii permanently. This was an open, worldwide recruitment with exceptional candidates with local ties, we stayed true to the inclusive search process, and the two finalists emerged.

Throughout, the PSAG and the regents have conducted themselves with integrity, assessing the candidates based on qualifications and experiences. We have done our level best to ensure that the process is sound and executed with integrity, and we will continue to make decisions that are informed by community and university input and feedback every step along the way.

We are very excited about proceeding with these two excellent finalists — Wendy F. Hensel and Julian Vasquez Heilig — who will present their qualifications, and their understanding of and vision for the University of Hawaii at multiple forums and open houses throughout the state later this month. We encourage everyone to take the opportunity at any one or more of these forums to get to know these candidates, and to offer their opinions to the Board of Regents. (See hawaii.edu/leadership/president-search.)

When the final selection is made in late October, we hope that everyone embraces our new president. Their success will be UH’s success — impacting our families, our neighbors and our entire state.

Gabriel Lee is University of Hawaii Board of Regents chair; Laurie Tochiki is the board’s vice chair.