Erroll B. Davis Jr., retired chairman of Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy Corp., was named chancellor-elect of Georgia's 35 public colleges and universities — the first nonacademic to hold the top post.

He is also the first African-American to hold the chancellor's position on a permanent basis, although friends and colleagues told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he does not like to be thought of as "the African-American" anything.
Race doesn't come into play, they said. Hard work does.

President Wayne Clough was a member of the selection committee.
"I am very pleased with this appointment," he said. "Mr. Davis was educated as an electrical engineer, held a number of leadership positions in private industry that involved complex organizations and served on the boards of three top-ranked universities. He brings the talents and skills needed to guide our University System through the challenging days ahead."

The son of a Pittsburgh seamstress and a small-business owner, Davis said his family never wanted for anything but they had to struggle to pay college tuition.

Davis earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a master's degree in business from the University of Chicago.

After completing his education, Davis spent two years in the Army during the Vietnam War and married his seventh-grade sweetheart, Elaine, a reading specialist who earned a master's degree in education from the University of Michigan.