Incumbent Moran faces challenger for board of regents

Higher education regent John Moran is facing a challenger as he seeks to retain his seat.

Moran, an attorney who was elected to the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents in 2016, is running against advertising executive Stephanie Goodman for the District 13 seat, which covers a western portion of Clark County.

They’re seeking a six-year term on the 13-member board, which oversees eight schools and about 100,000 students.

The election comes at a crucial time for the system, which has faced recent turmoil, including Chancellor Melody Rose’s sex-based hostile work environment complaint in fall 2021 and resignation in April.

In June, the board appointed former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga as acting chancellor.

Stephanie Goodman

Goodman, 50, owns an advertising agency and is executive director of the Dr. Robert Hunter International Problem Gambling Center.

Goodman — a UNLV alumnus who was student body president — is also the former daughter-in-law of two Las Vegas mayors, Carolyn and Oscar Goodman. She was Oscar Goodman’s chief of staff for several years after he was elected in 1999.

Goodman said she wanted to run for the board of regents after hearing news focused more on the regents or chancellor instead of faculty, students, research programs and “all of the wonderful things happening” on campuses.

As for challenges facing the system, “right now, money is always an issue,” she said.

The higher education system also needs to work with local and state economic development departments, Goodman said. “I feel like everyone is kind of working in a silo.”

Goodman also said a college or university campus “should be a place where freedom of speech is absolutely protected.”

John Moran

Moran, 50, previously chaired the Nevada Ethics Commission from 2008 to 2011 and was judge pro tem for the city of Henderson from 2004 to 2008.

Moran, a fourth-generation Nevadan, said the last six years as a regent have provided the opportunity to “plant many seeds” and water them, and now he’d like to start “trimming those trees that have been grown during my tenure.”

In order to have a community to be proud of and that entices businesses to come to the state, “we have to have a very well-defined and well-trained workforce, and that all starts and ends in our institutions of higher education.”

Moran said he thinks affordability and accessibility to higher education is always important.

In terms of a search for a new chancellor, the position is of “paramount importance to the entire system,” Moran said, also noting it’s key to hire a good leader and then allow them to do their job.

“Hopefully we’ll find someone as good as Melody (Rose) because I thought she was truly a trendsetter and a pioneer and I think the whole system would have been in very good stead under her leadership,” he said.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.