Gubernatorial mandates involving value-added assessment and teacher competency testing have intensified external expectations of the institutional research community. With governors thus promoting quality in higher education, institutional researchers must exert leadership in identifying potential implications of state policies. The image of 20 modern "education governors" is examined by considering: (1) the correspondence between the promises in their public addresses and actual policies, and (2) their personal attributes and direct involvement in education. Overwhelmingly, these "education governors" proved true to their word, indicating that institutional researchers can take the lead within their university by scrutinizing gubernatorial program proposals from the outset. Contains 17 references. (Author/KM)