Adam M. Hasner, J.D., was appointed Florida Atlantic University’s eighth president by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees on Feb. 10, 2025, and was confirmed by the Florida State University System Board of Governors on Feb. 20. He took office March 10.
President Hasner has long championed his “hometown university” and quickly established student success as his primary focus. Raised in Palm Beach County, he is a product of the local public school system and the son of two educators. President Hasner earned a juris doctor from Florida State University and a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland. He resides in Boca Raton with his wife, Jillian, who is the chief executive officer of the mentoring and scholarship nonprofit organization Take Stock in Children.
President Hasner served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010, including two terms as House Majority Leader, where he championed initiatives in health care, education and economic development. His legislative accomplishments include working with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to establish Florida’s life sciences industry with significant funding for biomedical research, while leading the efforts to secure funding to establish Florida Atlantic’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. He was honored twice as American Cancer Society Legislator of the Year for his leadership on Florida’s $120 million annual investment in biomedical and cancer research. This funding supported peer-reviewed competitive grants for scientific investigators, institutions and clinical trials in the fight against cancer.
President Hasner also championed Florida Atlantic’s ocean energy initiative, sponsoring key legislation in 2006 and 2008 that laid the foundation for creating the University’s Office of the Ocean Economy. He also played a pivotal role in securing $43 million for Florida Atlantic’s Engineering East building, which opened in 2010 as the first state-funded higher education facility to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Additionally, he authored the nation’s strongest legislation to combat college hazing, earning the Anti-Hazing Hero Award from the Hazing Prevention Network.
Beyond his prior professional career, President Hasner’s community service includes serving for 20 years on the board of trustees for Boca Raton Regional Hospital; on the dean’s advisory board for Florida Atlantic’s College of Business; and as chair of the Palm Beach County Early Learning Coalition, a non-profit responsible for implementing the state’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program locally.
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