How individuals are selected to lead public agencies and whether the “fit” between managers and their organizations influences managerial strategies and subsequent organizational performance is a question that has rarely been tested in public administration. Concepts of organizational and person fit present in private management literature may be applied to public organizations, where characteristics of past performance and personal fit are often at the center of hiring decisions. After discussing the role of fit in the public sphere, a set of hypotheses are tested using original cross-sectional time-series data on university presidents from 1993-2013.  Findings suggest that the relationship between managerial fit and organizational performance may vary for low, average, and high performing institutions.