The search for a new Memphis athletics director formally began Thursday, the school has announced.

Parker Executive Search, the same firm that was involved when the university hired president Bill Hardgrave in 2021, has been retained to assist with the search.

Laird Veatch, who occupied that role as well as the university's senior vice president, left Memphis on April 22 after four-plus years to become AD at Missouri. Senior deputy athletic director Jeff Crane was elevated to interim AD shortly after Veatch's departure.

Memphis has assembled a six-person advisory committee to assist Hardgrave "and act with purposeful speed this summer" in the search for a replacement for Veatch, according to a press release.

The committee will consist of Dave North, chair of the Athletics Committee, Board of Trustees and executive chairman of Sedgwick; Lynda Black, Faculty Athletics Representative for the UofM and professor at the UofM Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law; Michael Cook, Chair of the UofM’s Campaign Committee and founder and chairman of SouthernSun Asset Management; Willie Gregory, director of global community impact at Nike Inc.; Richard Smith, president and CEO, Airline and International at FedEx; and Rick Spell, President of the Auxiliary Services Foundation and president of Spell Restaurant Group.

"We are extremely excited to be in the position we find ourselves in today with athletics,” Hardgrave said in a prepared statement. “We want to continue this upward momentum with a forward-thinking, transformative leader with the vision to ensure we achieve our full potential as we head into a promising future for Tiger athletics.”

Memphis has generated significant momentum in recent months. Work on a planned $220 million renovation of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium is scheduled to begin this month. Crane told The Commercial Appeal this week that the school has secured $190 million so far and expects to surpass $195 million "by the end of the summer."

“The new athletics director will have an impact far beyond the playing fields — they will usher in the next generation of student-athletes and prepare them for success, all while guiding the rise of our athletic programs to national prominence," Gregory said in a school release.

MEMPHIS ATHLETICS: Interim AD Jeff Crane 'good busy' as he helms stadium, NIL projects and vies for job

The school also recently entered into a landmark NIL partnership with FedEx, which has committed $5 million a year over the next five years to go toward Memphis athletes.

“We will take those positive vibes into the summer as we seek out an innovative, bold leader who will bring the program into the next era," North said in a statement.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis forms advisory committee as search for new AD begins