William R. Greiner was the University's 13th president. He joined the UB law faculty in 1967 and shortly thereafter became chairman of the Legal Studies Programs. By 1984, he was named UB's first University Provost. He served as interim president from March 1991 until his appointment as president by the Chancellor and Board of Trustees on September 25, 1991. He served 13 years before stepping down in 2004. Greiner's accomplishments as president included creating numerous trans-disciplinary research centers and institutes; reaffirming the University's commitment to public service; streamlining student services and record enrollments; increasing exchange and study abroad programs; conducting a record-breaking capital campaign; constructing a series of student residential centers and other major construction projects; creating of Task Forces on Women and on Racial and Ethnic Diversity; and moving the UB football team to Division 1-A.

President Greiner received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, a masters degree in economics and his Juris Doctor degree from Yale University. President Greiner died on December 19, 2009 of complications from heart surgery.

Thomas E. Headrick first came to the University as Dean of the Law School in 1976. He served in that capacity until 1985 when he stepped down to resume full time law teaching. He held a wide variety of academic and administrative positions before being named Senior Counselor by President Greiner in February 1995. Upon the death of Aaron Bloch in, Headrick assumed the role of University Provost in May 1995 and served through 1998. He continued as Senior Counselor to President Greiner during his term and also taught part-time in the Law School until 2010. Before coming to UB, Headrick was vice president for academic affairs at Lawrence University in Wisconsin and assistant dean of Stanford Law School. In 1993 he was named a Distinguished Service Professor by the SUNY Board of Trustees, the highest academic rank available in the state university system. Headrick received his undergraduate degree from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, his law degree from Yale, and his doctorate in political science from Stanford University. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University from 1956-1958.