by Malcolm Butler
The search for Louisiana Tech University’s next president took a significant step forward Friday as the Presidential Search Committee narrowed a field of more than 50 applicants to four semifinalists during a meeting in Baton Rouge, selecting Jason Armagost, John Flake, Matthew Napoli and Brett Welch to advance to the next stage of the search process.
All four have significant ties to Louisiana Tech or the state of Louisiana and will participate in in-person interviews Monday and Tuesday on the Louisiana Tech campus, with faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members invited to participate.
Armagost serves as deputy commander of Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, Flake is a senior research administrator and chemical engineering professor at LSU, Napoli serves as a deputy administrator with the National Nuclear Security Administration, and Welch is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.
The search is being conducted by the University of Louisiana System following the departure of Louisiana Tech President Jim Henderson, who had served as the university’s president since January 2024.
Louisiana Tech Senior Vice President for Student Advancement and Chief Operating Officer Dickie Crawford was named acting president of Louisiana Tech on Oct. 22 and is overseeing the university during the transition.
“The semifinalists coming to campus next week all possess the qualifications we are seeking to continue Tech’s recent momentum,” said Tech alumnus and UL System Board of Supervisors member Steve Davison. “They all have significant ties to the university or Louisiana. I look forward to getting to know them better through the interview process and finding the best fit for the university.”
“I thought it was very well done as far as the discussion and the way the whole process worked,” said Ruston Mayor and non-voting search committee member Ronny Walker. “I was very pleased with it. There were lots of comments about the strength of Louisiana Tech and the love for our great university. I’m very pleased with how everything turned out and look forward to those candidates coming to campus for interviews and look forward to having a new president in place soon.”
A lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force, Armagost brings more than three decades of military leadership experience, including extensive experience in national security, strategic planning, innovation and economic development.
Armagost serves as deputy commander of Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base and deputy commander of Air Forces Strategic-Air, U.S. Strategic Command. He assumed his current position in November 2025 when he was promoted to lieutenant general.
Air Force Global Strike Command is responsible for the nation’s Air Force bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile forces and encompasses more than 36,000 military and civilian personnel.
Prior to assuming his current position, Armagost served as commander of the Eighth Air Force and Joint Global Strike Operations Center at Barksdale from 2023-25. He previously served as director of strategic plans, programs and requirements and as director of operations and communications for Air Force Global Strike Command.
His military career has included assignments at the Pentagon, where he served as chief of nuclear operations on the Joint Staff, and command positions at military installations in Missouri, North Dakota and Qatar.
According to his résumé, Armagost has managed budgets exceeding $18 billion during his military career, with responsibilities including strategic planning, infrastructure development, modernization and workforce readiness.
Armagost has also worked to develop partnerships among universities, government agencies, private industry and entrepreneurs. According to his résumé, his efforts helped more than 180 nontraditional defense companies gain access to opportunities that resulted in more than $800 million in Air Force contract awards.
Among those companies is SBCC Defense, which has hired 42 Louisiana Tech graduates. In all, Armagost’s résumé states that organizations he has helped support have employed approximately 50 Louisiana Tech graduates.
Armagost earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1992 and his master’s degree in counseling and leadership development in 2005. He also completed an Air Force fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
His experience in higher education includes serving as an air officer commanding at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he mentored cadets, advised student leaders and oversaw leadership development programs.
Armagost has also published works on literature, history, military strategy, leadership and public policy. In 2024, he delivered the David L. Jannetta Lecture on War, Literature and the Arts. A command pilot, Armagost has logged more than 2,900 flight hours, including 415 combat hours.
A two-time Louisiana Tech graduate, Flake has spent two decades at LSU, where he has held leadership positions in academic administration, engineering and research.
Flake has served as associate vice chancellor for research at LSU since 2023 and became executive director of the LSU Energy Institute in 2026. He is also the Jesse Coates Professor and Jay Affolter Professor of chemical engineering.
In his current role, Flake oversees 58 scientists, engineers and staff across three major LSU research units, including the LSU Energy Institute.
As a member of LSU’s senior research leadership team, Flake has helped guide the university through three consecutive years of record research growth, with annual research expenditures increasing from $366 million in 2021 to $601 million in fiscal year 2024-25.
Flake also helped develop and launch Future Use of Energy in Louisiana (FUEL), an LSU-led coalition of more than 50 partners awarded up to $160 million by the National Science Foundation in 2024. Louisiana Tech is among the coalition’s partners.
Flake earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana Tech in 1993 and his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the university in 1994. He earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1999.
Prior to joining LSU’s faculty in 2006, Flake spent seven years working in industrial research at IBM and Motorola/Freescale Semiconductor, developing semiconductor manufacturing processes.
Flake chaired LSU’s Cain Department of Chemical Engineering from 2015-23, overseeing a department with 25 faculty members, eight staff members, more than 900 undergraduate students and 60 graduate students. His responsibilities included faculty recruitment, fundraising, strategic planning and academic administration.
According to his résumé, Flake has served as a principal investigator, co-principal investigator or senior investigator on more than $37 million in sponsored research, published 48 peer-reviewed papers and received 10 U.S. patents. He received LSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award in 2022.
Flake has maintained close ties to his alma mater, serving on Louisiana Tech’s Chemical Engineering Advisory Board since 2022, where he reviews senior design projects and provides guidance on academic program outcomes.
A 2004 Louisiana Tech graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Napoli brings more than two decades of experience in national security, engineering and federal government leadership.
Napoli serves as deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. He assumed the Senate-confirmed position in October 2025.
According to his résumé, Napoli oversees an organization of approximately 400 federal employees and contractors with an annual operating budget of $2.4 billion, including approximately $900 million dedicated to research and development.
Prior to assuming his current position, Napoli served as executive director for foreign and public affairs for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program from 2017-25. He previously served as director of foreign affairs for the program from 2009-17 after spending five years on active duty as a U.S. Navy officer.
In addition to his undergraduate degree from Louisiana Tech, Napoli earned a master’s degree in engineering science from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2006 and a doctorate in public policy and public administration from George Washington University in 2019, with a focus on science and technology policy.
Napoli was recognized as Louisiana Tech’s Young Alumnus of the Year in 2010 and returned to campus as a commencement speaker in 2024.
A longtime higher education administrator with extensive ties to Louisiana, Welch serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.
Welch was named to the position in April 2025 after serving approximately nine months as interim provost. As the university’s chief academic officer, Welch is responsible for academic leadership, strategic planning, faculty affairs and initiatives aimed at improving student success.
Prior to becoming provost, Welch served as vice provost for digital learning and dean of the College of Graduate Studies at Lamar. He previously served as associate dean of graduate studies and director of the university’s Center for Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership.
Welch joined Lamar in 2016 after spending nearly two decades at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, where he held a variety of faculty and administrative positions. His experience at McNeese included positions in academic advising, enrollment services, institutional effectiveness, accreditation, graduate education and academic department leadership.
Throughout his career, Welch has worked in areas including academic program development, online education, student retention and institutional accreditation. His research has focused on the experiences of first-year college students, nontraditional students and effective practices in online education.
Welch has also been involved in athletics-related university governance, serving on Lamar’s Athletic Council from 2022-24 and previously serving as vice chair of McNeese’s NCAA reaccreditation process.
Welch earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from McNeese State University in 1995, his master’s degree in higher education administration from Northwestern State University in 1997 and his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans in 2003.
He is the son of former Louisiana Tech basketball coach, Steve Welch.
The University of Louisiana System has invited faculty, staff, students, alumni and community stakeholders to participate in the final stages of the presidential search process.
The four semifinalists will participate in public interviews on the Louisiana Tech campus Monday and Tuesday, with members of the Ruston community strongly encouraged to attend and engage in the process.
The on-campus interviews will provide opportunities for members of the university community to meet the candidates, learn more about their leadership experience and vision for Louisiana Tech, and provide feedback to the search committee.
Following the on-campus interviews, the search committee will select finalists to advance to the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.
The finalists will be interviewed during a special meeting of the board Thursday, Nov. 19, in Baton Rouge, at which time Louisiana Tech’s next president may be named.
The new president is expected to assume office Jan. 1, 2027.
The detailed interview schedule and additional information about the search process will be available on the University of Louisiana System’s Louisiana Tech presidential search website at ulsystem.edu/latech-search.
