The Board of Regents voted unanimous approval May 7 of President Mark G. Yudof’s choices to fill the chancellorships at UC Davis and UC San Francisco.

“Linda Katehi is a great success story and a great fit for UC Davis,” Yudof said in recommending the electrical engineer to be the Davis campus’s sixth chancellor. She is scheduled to take up her new post Aug. 17.

“She is a brilliant academic with experience at three Big 10 universities. She understands the mission and aspirations of a multidisciplinary, land-grant institution dedicated to solving society’s problems. She is also an accomplished researcher and inventor, and a proven manager and fundraiser.”

The other new chancellor is Susan Desmond-Hellmann at UCSF.

Katehi, 55, and Desmond-Hellmann, 51, succeed Larry Vanderhoef and J. Michael Bishop, respectively, described by Board of Regents Chair Richard C. Blum as “two of our very best chancellors.”

“We owe them a great debt of gratitude that can never be repaid,” Blum said before inviting their successors to deliver brief remarks during the regents meeting, which was conducted by teleconference.

Vanderhoef came to UC Davis in 1984 as executive vice chancellor and subsequently become provost and executive vice chancellor, until his appointment as UC Davis’ fifth chancellor in 1994.

He is not leaving UC Davis; as chancellor emeritus, he plans to write a book, develop and teach a new class (a biology course for nonscience majors) and continue his work on building international links, in addition to carrying out other service activities nationally and on campus.

Under Vanderhoef’s leadership, Yudof said, “UC Davis has made incredible strides and become one of America’s great research universities. Now we want to build on that progress, and I’m confident Linda has the ability to make that happen.”

Desmond-Hellmann is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and medical oncology who has dedicated much of her career to cancer research.

“As an accomplished clinician, researcher and manager, she brings all the tools needed to take the campus to even greater heights,” Yudof said. “That she did her internal medicine and oncology training at UCSF makes the match even more ideal.”

Desmond-Hellmann recently left South San Francisco-based Genentech after 14 years as a clinical scientist, chief medical officer, executive vice president and, most recently, president of product development. During her time at Genentech, she oversaw successful trials for therapeutic drugs, including Herceptin, Avastin and Rituxan, targeting a range of cancers and other diseases.

The regents also voted unanimous approval of the Katehi and Desmond-Hellmann compensation packages, with base annual salaries of $400,000 for Katehi and $450,000 for Desmond-Hellmann.

UC officials noted that the system seeks to be competitive in the employment markets relevant to its faculty and staff hires — yet the Katehi and Desmond-Hellmann base salaries are still substantially lower than the 2008 median of $628,000 among chancellors at UC’s comparison group of 14 public and private U.S. campuses with medical schools.

Katehi’s base salary is about 12.4 percent more than the $356,000 she earns at the University of Illinois. (Vanderhoef earns $315,000 as UC Davis chancellor.)

At Genentech, Desmond-Hellmann earned $725,666 in base salary and $1.3 million in incentive compensation, not including stock-based compensation. (Her predecessor at UCSF earns $402,200.)

Consistent with university policy, each new chancellor also will receive:

• University-provided housing.

• An annual automobile allowance of $8,916.

• Payment of packing and moving costs for household effects, library and related equipment.

• Reimbursement of travel expenses for business-related visits to the campus during the transition period.

• Eligibility for a Mortgage Origination Program loan and payment of relocation costs if she continues in a tenured faculty position after stepping down as chancellor.

Additionally, Katehi will receive a relocation allowance of $100,000 (25 percent of base salary), subject to proportional repayment if she resigns within the first four years of appointment.

Each new chancellor, should she elect to maintain an active research program, will receive an annual allocation of campus funding for such research.

Both will receive standard pension, health and welfare, and senior management benefits, including senior management life insurance, executive business travel insurance, executive salary continuation for disability, accrual of sabbatical leave and an administrative fund.

Katehi’s husband, Spyros Tseregounis — who, like Katehi, did his graduate study at UCLA, earning a doctorate in chemical engineering — holds an adjunct faculty position at the University of Illinois. UC Davis will be considering him for a similar or equivalent appointment.

Katehi comes to campus: Chancellor-designate mingles with staff, faculty.

Video from the regents meeting: chancellorsearch.ucdavis.edu (click on “First impressions”).

Video from the welcome ceremony: chancellorsearch.ucdavis.edu (click on “Katehi's campus welcome”).

Quotes and more about Katehi's visit to campus.

Gould tapped as new regents chair.