In a state that has the highest percentage of native-born residents, and in a city that loves its locals, it’s no surprise that newcomers to Baton Rouge encounter a culture that requires some navigation.
That’s especially true when a new leader delivers uncomfortable news.
In 2014, that’s where Tina Holland found herself as the new president of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, then known as Our Lady of the Lake College. But the way she navigated that challenge ushering in a new era for FranU is why Holland was named Executive of the Year at Business Report’s Business Awards and Hall of Fame this week.
Holland, recruited from Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana, had been charged with fostering the growth of the Baton Rouge-based college and affirming its structure as a Catholic higher education institution no different from the more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities nationwide.
“I learned that even though it was officially accredited, it wasn’t functioning like an accredited institution,” Holland recalls. “It was being operated by the hospital like a proprietary school.”
It took five years for the board of trustees, with whom Holland worked closely, to approve new bylaws that clarified the college’s governance so that it could steer its own future. During that time, the institution’s name also changed, signaling its governance by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady rather than Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. It has since been rebranded as FranU.
Read the full story about Holland’s work from the latest edition of Business Report. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
