Timothy M. Wolfe

Early life Wolfe was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and moved to Columbia, Missouri, when he was in fourth grade.

He matriculated at the University of Missouri, earning a bachelor's degree in personnel management from the Trulaske College of Business in 1980. Wolfe interned for Cramer Products for eighteen months, and he was on the business school's Dean's List.

Computer business career In 1980, he became a sales representative in Jefferson City, Missouri for IBM. He worked in various capacities for IBM for twenty years. Wolfe subsequently worked for Covansys as an executive vice president.

University of Missouri The announcement of his selection occurred on December 13, 2011, nearly 11 months after the previous president Gary Forsee stepped down to take care of his ailing wife. Wolfe took office on February 15, 2012. Steve Owens had been interim president. The appointment marked the second consecutive time that a businessman rather than educator became president (Forsee was CEO of Sprint). Wolfe said that he did not expect the university system's financial troubles would be difficult compared to the financial situations of some of his previous employers.

The editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch criticized the University of Missouri's board of curators for hiring someone with no professional experience in educational settings who needed a two-month "journey of enlightenment" to learn about each of the four campuses' needs.

University of Missouri Press In May 2012, Wolfe announced that the University of Missouri Press' $400,000 subsidy would end. Two months later, he announced that the press would close and that there would be a new publishing model that would be more effective at distributing scholarly publications. Governor Jay Nixon vetoed the bill. In November 2015, Missouri's Legion of Black Collegians announced that approximately thirty athletes would not participate in any team activities unless Wolfe resigned.

On November 9, 2015, Wolfe resigned at a special Board of Curators meeting that morning.