YOUNGSTOWN — Neal McNally, Youngstown State University’s vice president for finance and business operations, starts today as the school’s acting president despite no formal action taken by the YSU board of trustees.

Becky Rose, a YSU spokeswoman, said Tuesday: “This appointment did not require a vote.”

Asked who made the decision to hire McNally, Rose said she didn’t have that information. Rose said she forwarded the question, but was unsure how quickly she would have a response as YSU was closed Tuesday.

The announcement of McNally’s appointment was made in an email from Michael Peterson “on behalf of the YSU board of trustees.”

The trustees didn’t have a public meeting to vote on the McNally appointment.

The board received a great deal of opposition to how it handled the confidential process of hiring U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Canfield, as its next president.

The university won’t release the names of any of the applicants or even the two other finalists for the job given to Johnson.

Trustees have contended a confidential search is the best way to get the most-qualified candidates even though this was the first time the university has ever done it. Johnson, who has no higher education experience, said he was approached by WittKeiffer, the firm hired by YSU to conduct the presidential search.

McNally will hold the acting position until Johnson starts as president no later than March 15.

McNally is replacing Helen K. Lafferty, who was interim president since Feb. 1. Lafferty was supposed to stay in that position until the YSU board of trustees hired a permanent replacement. She was selected as interim president to serve as a bridge between Jim Tressel, who retired Feb. 1 after nearly nine years on the job, and his permanent replacement.

But the board chose Dec. 7 to have Lafferty leave Dec. 31 though she is leaving a few days early.

Dec. 7 was the last public meeting by the YSU trustees. Appointing McNally wasn’t discussed at all at that meeting.

At that meeting, trustees refused to take public comments about the Johnson hiring despite Peterson saying at a Nov. 21 meeting that it would be allowed.

Johnson was hired by the board Nov. 21 by an 8-1 vote with Molly Seals casting the lone “no” vote.

Peterson’s email on the McNally appointment states: “In order to maintain continuity of university operations during this changeover period, we are pleased to share that” McNally will be acting president “with signature authority. Neal brings a wealth of experience and a strong dedication to YSU to this role.”

After spending nearly 11 years as budget director for the Ohio Board of Regents, McNally was hired as YSU budget director, starting in June 2006. He was promoted in February 2014 as YSU’s vice president for finance and business affairs.

Mark Vopat, YSU-Ohio Education Association faculty union president, said the choice of a president, even an interim one, is in the hands of the trustees.

“My only question is why the board would end Helen Lafferty’s tenure early knowing Johnson would not be able to begin until late January or possibly early March,” he said. “Then again there are a number of board decisions that I don’t understand.”

The Johnson hiring has been sharply criticized by YSU alumni, students, faculty and donors.

The YSU Academic Senate approved “no confidence” votes Dec. 16 against the trustees for the hiring and to Johnson, a conservative congressman who will resign in February or early March to lead the university.

The objections largely have been about Johnson’s politics and the positions he’s taken during his 13-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as to how the trustees handled the process.

Johnson and Peterson have said it is unfair to make judgments before the incoming president has an opportunity to prove himself.