Ohio Valley University’s president has resigned, while Florida College has named a successor to its retiring president.

James Johnson stepped down after four years at the helm of OVU, a Church of Christ-associated university in Vienna, W.Va. He plans to remain in the area as president and CEO of The Ethos Leadership Group, which specializes in executive coaching and leadership training.

Keith Stotts, OVU’s chancellor and former longtime president, will serve as interim president as the university launches a national search for a new president. During Johnson’s tenure, the institution attained university status, expanded degree offerings, increased minority enrollment and extended its outreach to the region, said Gail Hopkins, OVU’s board chairman.

At Florida College, a Temple Terrace, Fla., school that draws most of its students from non-institutional Churches of Christ, board members named H.E. “Buddy” Payne to succeed retiring President C.G. “Colly” Caldwell.

Caldwell first came to Florida College in 1961 and has served as president for 18 years. He will remain at the college as a tenured faculty member and teach classes in the Bible department. He also plans to devote more time to his work as an elder and preacher with the Citrus Park church in Tampa.

Payne, whose father served on Florida College’s faculty in the 1950s, attended the college as a student in the early 1960s. He has served as registrar, dean of students, academic dean and vice president. He will reduce his work with the Livingston Avenue church in Lutz, where he serves as an elder and preacher.

Baxter Institute, a ministry training facility in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, announced that Howard Norton, professor and assistant dean for church relations at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., and former editor of The Christian Chronicle, will serve as the institute’s fourth president. Norton will succeed current President Steve White on June 1.