In December, after a bungled attempt to choose a successor, the chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Bob Klein, announced that he would stay on temporarily to help the state stem cell agency find its next leader. To inform the process, last month the CIRM governing board completed a survey to identify the key attributes they wanted in their next boss.

But according to that survey, the results of which were released this week, the board members can’t seem to agree on the qualifications and responsibilities the next chairperson should have or the salary that he or she should be paid.

“The survey reveals that members have a wide range of views, especially in connection with the allocation of responsibilities between the chair and vice chairs, the board, and the president, and the appropriate time commitment and salary for the new chair,” James Harrison, outside legal counsel to CIRM, wrote in a memo to the board.

Twenty of 29 board members filled in the survey. Of those who did, most cited leadership and a history of stem cell advocacy as the most important skills needed in the next chairperson. However, a handful of members listed scientific know-how as the prime desired qualification. Under the terms of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that led to CIRM’s creation, the chairperson must have a “documented history in successful stem cell research advocacy.” No mention is made of scientific proficiency.

The governing board also disagreed on compensation and time commitment. Suggestions ranged from 20% time with a salary of $50,000 to full-time with a $550,000 paycheck. During his six years at the helm, Klein worked half-time at CIRM and earned $150,000 per year for the second half of his term. Since being reelected to the post in December, however, he has worked pro bono. In comparison, CIRM president Alan Trounson made $490,000 in 2009.

Additionally, the CIRM board members had differing opinions over how much power should sit in the position of the incoming chair. Eight survey respondents said the president should report to the chair, while only three thought the chair should report to the president. The remainder called for a more collaborative arrangement.

In the past, critics have charged Klein with exerting too heavy-handed a role on the agency and not granting the president sufficient independence. As Joel Adelson, a health-policy researcher at the University of California-San Francisco, told Nature last year: “Klein… acted like the chief operating officer beside Trounson and beside [former CIRM president Zach] Hall, and I can only say that this looks like it must have been very uncomfortable for these guys.”

Hat tip to the California Stem Cell Report.