TOPEKA ? Kansas Board of Regents President and CEO Andy Tompkins publicly announced his retirement Wednesday, after five years leading the board and more than 45 working in public education.

Tompkins’ successor will be a man who already has been working closely with Tompkins, Regents Vice President for Workforce Development Blake Flanders.

Tompkins will step down and Flanders will step in at the end of June.

The regents hope Flanders will continue a positive culture left by Tompkins, as well as continue forward motion on the Regents strategic plan, Regents Chairman Kenny Wilk said.

Andy Tompkins is president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents.

Blake Flanders

“He understands our plan, he’s committed to our plan, he’s committed to our state,” Wilk said.

Wilk said the decision to hire Flanders was not made quickly or lightly, and had been in the works for several months.

Flanders is a native of tiny Edson, Kan., and an alumnus of Kansas State University.

“I want our higher education system to give Kansans the same opportunity I had — an excellent education that’s affordable,” Flanders told the board. “We need to continue to press on to increase the attainment for all of Kansas.”

At the Board of Regents Flanders has focused on the state’s postsecondary education system’s role in the development of an educated workforce that aligns with the needs of the economy, according to an announcement from the Board of Regents. His responsibilities have included developing a policy agenda for postsecondary technical education, curriculum and program evaluation, system funding, benchmarks and accountability, and the management of federal initiatives. Flanders previously was liaison between the Regents and the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Tompkins’ retirement caps a long career in public education, which included teaching high school English, being a principal and superintendent, and various university teaching and administrator positions. According to the Regents, he most recently served as the dean of the college of education, and as associate professor in the Department of Special Services and Leadership Studies at Pittsburg State University. From 2005 to 2007, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Kansas University.

Tompkins was the Kansas commissioner of education from 1996 to 2005.

He has been president and CEO of the Regents since 2010.

Multiple regents praised Tompkins’ professional achievements, but also his integrity and commitment to others.

In all his years of working in education, Tompkins never tired of “loving to serve people,” Regent Fred Logan said.

The regents, in a press release, shared a statement from Tompkins, given during the Pittsburg State University Apple Day celebration in March.

“What I ultimately discovered in my late 20s and early 30s, was that being in service to a broader good was much more fulfilling,” Tompkins said. “In essence, ‘we’ became more important than ‘me.'”