2024 Board Election Candidates
The primary contact of each member institution will have the opportunity to cast a ballot between May 2–9, 2024. Each primary contact will receive instructions on casting their institution’s ballot on May 2. Primary contacts should share candidate materials with institutional colleagues to gather feedback on the candidates before casting their ballot. Election results will be shared in the May 16 Innovation Connection Newsletter. New board members will take office at the Annual Conference, July 24–26, in Rancho Mirage, California.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
As a Senior Change Manager for WashU’s Student Sunrise initiative, which will replace many of the information systems that currently support WashU’s academic areas and reimagine operations in the academic and student support space, my responsibilities include supporting three of the eight schools and their specific needs to understand and prepare for upcoming changes with the project’s launch and beyond. I collaborate with subject matter experts tasked with designing the new system as well as those across campus who are key stakeholders (i.e., Office of the University Registrar and admissions offices) to develop communications and readiness activities, such as change impact sessions, educational webinars, and more.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
As a communications and change management leader, I have focused my entire career in helping organizations promote and market themselves in support of their mission and other operational goals. My combined experience in communications and change management in the higher education space specifically focused on transformational initiatives gives me a unique perspective. Having led communications and marketing efforts at a non-profit organization as well as being a change management leader at WashU’s during two of its once-in-a-generation, university-wide change initiatives, I am confident that I could be a valuable addition to NCCI and the board as it focuses on advancing its mission.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
I am passionate about helping non-profit organizations advance their mission and goals through communications, marketing, and change initiatives. This experience combined with my upcoming completion of an Executive MBA give me a well-rounded set of skills that can help the board with its strategic, financial, and marketing goals while also allowing me to learn and collaborate with fellow leaders in this space. Higher education institutions are in a critical moment right now, facing unprecedented pressures from within and outside to innovate, turn on a dime, and continuously improve. NCCI is uniquely positioned to connect and support its members, and I would like the opportunity to help.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
Assistant Vice President of Enterprise Change & Transformation in the Office of the President. Oversee an office of dedicated project managers, organizational change managers, and business process improvement analysts that are responsible for carrying out large scale change and transformation projects that align with strategic priorities of the institution. Cultivate and build relationships with senior leaders in operations and the academic leadership of the institution are also priorities as we look to build better change leadership and processes to be more agile and responsive to change.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
I have been a board member in the past including a past board president and have served NCCI as a board member through the challenging pandemic period. Good communicator, problem solver, and teammate with a willingness and desire to succeed. I have first hand knowledge and experience in building change capabilities in higher education, and a desire to keep growing and evolving this space.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
NCCI epitomizes all of the efforts in my career in Higher Education to create a lifelong learning system that is highly adaptable to change and continuous improvement. My experiences at a very large R1 institution and being part of the evolution of institutional management would serve me well as part of a board driving similar work. I’m also interested in reaching other colleagues and collaborating on our efforts to continually move Higher Education forward in the change and management spaces.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
In my role as the director of Support Services for Facilities Management at UC Davis I have the privilege to lead a diverse group of professionals in the areas of marketing & communications, training, engagement, sustainability, customer service, quality assurance and environmental health and safety.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
I have been honored to serve on the board this past year, serving the remaining term from a departing board member. As a candidate for the board of directors of NCCI, I believe I can bring a collaborative leadership approach coupled with expertise in strategic planning, succession planning, market research and analysis, change management and community engagement. In my prior position before joining UC Davis, I served as the Chief Executive Office for the Davis Chamber of Commerce. This not-for-profit organization helped me hone my skills in member and community engagement, strategic planning, economic development and enhancing our partnership with the University.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
I would be thrilled to serve on the board again as I find joy in engaging and learning from others in our industry. Being a part of an organization that is driving change, fostering innovation, promotes inclusion and supports the learning environment is both exciting and challenging. I have had the opportunity to participate on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and Marketing Committees and in the short time, have learned a great deal from other colleagues serving. I believe my experience can assist in growing engagement by understanding the needs of our membership. In a time of limited attention and funding, I would like to partner with fellow board members to enhance and grow our organization, foster engagement and help share the story of who we are and the value of membership.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
Leads and promotes efforts to create a more efficient, effective, and user-friendly university. Guides institutional transformation in partnership with university leaders by:
- Facilitating projects to improve and streamline key processes
- Providing business portfolio/operations review and strategy alignment and implementation
- Developing a set of practical tools and resources for process efficiency and effectiveness
- Building knowledge and expertise to embed improvement practices throughout the university
- Building organizational capacity for change
Leads an organizational excellence team that provides tools and resources throughout the organization and creates capacity and expertise to facilitate an exceptional customer experience. Partners closely with USC-Columbia colleges, schools, divisions and departments to streamline and enhance the user experience across areas and functions. Fosters innovation and solutions that meet current and future customer needs.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
In my current role, I am focused on partnering with leaders to innovate and transform, while also imbedding improvement and change leadership skills and competencies within units. This two-fold focus involves considerable listening to senior leaders and those in their units who are making the operational magic happen – and then taking informed action. By building a new Office of Organizational Excellence over the past year and ½, I have concentrated on future-focused transformation and the practical steps needed to get there. I would apply this curiosity, future-focus, and customer informed action to a role on the NCCI Board. In addition, I was excited to find out that the Board is seeking members with certain skills and competencies to complement those of others on the Board. In particular, the Board’s interest in those with financial skills and experience caught my attention. I am a CPA, and financial analysis, particularly to support an organization or unit in learning, identifying meaningful opportunities, and creating a financially viable structure for transformation, is very exciting to me. I would bring this interest, energy, and experience to a position on the NCCI Board.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
From what I’ve learned from Board members and my experience serving on the NCCI Education Council, NCCI is seeking to clearly define our value proposition and ensure we’re delivering that value to members. I truly believe that NCCI meets a critical and long-emerging space in higher education. While improvement, innovation, and transformation are structurally built into the operations of many industries due to their clear focus on customers, higher education is not known for its nimbleness, efficiency, effectiveness, or transformation. It’s a pivotal time in higher education, and NCCI seems uniquely positioned to support transformation. As someone leading organizational excellence at my university – and in particular, recently having started a new unit within a large institution – I’ve found colleagues within NCCI to be knowledgeable, generous, curious, and genuinely invested in improvement, innovation, and transformation. I am so appreciative of the support I’ve received and would welcome the opportunity to contribute in a similar way to others in the future through involvement on the NCCI Board of Directors.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
I am the Director of Faculty Development within the University of Michigan Medical School. My responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Plan and direct the administrative and operational activities of the Office, which serves more than 3000 faculty
- Develop and implement short- and long-range goals and objectives
- Align faculty career development programming to dynamic organizational strategic initiatives
- Responsible for allocation of human, space, and fiscal resources
- Direct the preparation of budgets, reports, financial analyses, and maintain operational records
- Supervision of five direct reports
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
I have a Master’s degree in Leadership and Organizational Dynamics. I have worked in higher education for 20+ years at four different institutions including the University of Vermont, the Mayo Clinic, Duke University, and the University of Michigan. I currently sit on a local non-profit board that raises funds for our public library. I am responsible for our Office’s ~$2M budget and oversee all daily operations for our 10-person team. I am well networked at the University of Michigan and partner with various offices across campus including the Office of the Vice President for Research, our Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, Organizational Learning, and the Office of Medical School Education.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
The work of NCCI dovetails nicely with what I currently do at the University of Michigan. I work collaboratively with our Organizational Learning office as we develop leadership development programs for both faculty and staff and diversity, equity, and inclusion training. In this ever-changing climate in higher education, I feel it is important to keep abreast of what other peer institutions are doing while continuously improving systemic issues we all face. I have the expertise and experience that would allow me to be an asset to this board. It would also help to grow my professional skills while I continue to be a lifelong learner.
Brief Description of Campus Responsibilities
I serve as a Senior Organizational Development Specialist on the Organizational Effectiveness team. Organizational Effectiveness is a critical hub for implementation of Human Resources strategic initiatives. I promote and enhance organizational excellence within Human Resources and across the University. We provide an array of services to leadership and key stakeholders that focus on improving organizational and employee success through change management, communication, process improvement and training. Our service offerings include the creation and implementation of strategic communication and training plans, strategic planning and implementation of human capital management systems, business process improvements, organizational and departmental strategic planning, gap analysis, and talent development. I collaborate with our institutional partners on several programmatic initiatives and support institutional data governance as the Executive Data Council training and communication co-chair.
What Skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
In the past three years, I served NCCI as a conference committee member, education council member, and education council chair. Each of these roles contributed to a deeper understanding of the organizational structure, goals, and objectives. The education council developed a structure for assessing educational content and we sought to bring that in alignment with the strategic plan. We are actively engaging in discussions that assess and articulate the value it offers current members and future members as well as how the framework can provide data that can be leveraged for future strategic board decisions.
In my current role at Purdue, I need to maintain an open and diverse mindset to entertain all options in how best to develop employees at the institution and deliver on HR strategic objectives. This approach has proven to be a key catalyst to cultivating creativity and innovation. We evaluate traditional practices and look at how we might reimagine or evolve processes and programs for the better, and I would continue to bring this spirit to the Board.
In prior roles, I held responsibility for regulatory compliance, accreditation processes, and advisory board governance. In addition, I maintained fiscal responsibilities for my departments to include capital acquisition, budget forecasting, management, and cost control. I provided oversight for business operations to include revenue generation and marketing strategies. I partnered with marketing to work on various campaigns and marketing initiatives on issues such as how to expand clinic outreach, increase student enrollment, or better promote graduate placement. I welcome the opportunity to leverage my operational experience in whatever manner that may best serve the organization.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
Throughout my career, I dedicated myself to advocating, coaching, and educating a wide constituency of individuals. As a change practitioner and organizational development specialist, I seek to unleash positive change and specifically desire to empower leaders to flourish to their fullest capacity. Driven by my passion for connecting individuals to meaningful opportunities, I have been privileged to be involved with high caliber organizations that have been instrumental in informing, equipping, and shaping career, leadership, and organizational development for their constituents. NCCI likewise achieves much in the pursuit of excellence in change, innovation, and leadership, but stands out as a remarkably collegial and collaborative organization. I welcome the opportunity to deepen those relationships and contribute further to the community. We are at a critical juncture in Higher Education and equipping leaders to lead change and innovation will profoundly impact future generations. I would be honored to serve as an advocate for the organization and value the opportunity to steward the future growth and sustainability of the organization.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
I am the Managing Director of the Strategy & Program Management Office (SPMO) at the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). UCOP is the headquarters for the University of California system which includes 10 campuses, 5 medical centers, and 3 National Labs. In my role, I lead a skilled team of internal consultants to deliver an active portfolio of over 25 high-impact strategic initiatives for UCOP and the UC system spanning strategic planning, strategic development, organizational reviews, process optimization, and change management. In my time at UC, I have directly led a wide range of prioritized initiatives including ones involving academic affairs, legal affairs, innovation and entrepreneurship, health benefits, government relations, Title IX, community safety, capital programs, and human resources. I have also served as the chief advisor and facilitator for strategic planning including the recent completion of the systemwide Presidential Priorities and the UCOP Strategic Framework.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
I bring over 22 years of experience advising large organizations on continuous improvement and change. Following a distinguished career in consulting large consumer organizations, I have served the University of California, the pre-eminent public university system in the world, for the past 7 years as a leader and executive advisor to address the largest challenges confronting the system. Throughout my career, I have applied analytical, management, and leadership skills to drive large scale change and deliver measurable impact across Fortune 500 companies, the social sector, and the public sector. I believe my breadth of experience and specific skill areas including revenue management, growth strategy, customer marketing, and strategic planning will be valuable as a Board member. I also bring deep experience building and growing organizations including my own; I understand the intricacies of driving strategic change and growth while ensuring financial sustainability and predictability in many different settings. I also will bring a distinct perspective working for a large federated University system versus a campus. As I have throughout my career, I would bring an entrepreneurial mindset as a Board member to embrace new ideas and models for NCCI to appeal to higher education’s highly evolving environment.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
As a leader in a NCCI member organization and annual conference participant, I bring a deep appreciation of the direct impact and value NCCI has to build knowledge and connection. I have found the learnings, the tools provided, and most critically, the NCCI network, to be invaluable resources to higher education institutions like the University of California. Serving as a board member to advance NCCI’s mission and help maximize its enormous potential would be a great honor for me and would align with my strengths. I believe I have the experiences, insights, and skills to help guide NCCI to a prosperous future.
Brief description of campus responsibilities
I am the Chief Administrative Officer of the School of Information. In this role, I serve as Chief of Staff, am accountable for the schools budget development and management and provide executive leadership to our finance, human resources, executive support, facilities, events and marketing and communications functions. I am a member of the Dean’s leadership team and often represent them on campus wide committees.
What skills or responsibilities would make you a valuable member of the board?
I have deep experience in financial management, budget, marketing and sponsor development. In addition, my top 5 CliftonStrengths include Strategic, Activator and Positivity. I lean into the Strengths to drive problem solving, lead others to action and create excitement around change and new initiatives. I believe I could support both the strategic and operational planning functions of the board.
Why are you interested in being on the board?
I find change management, continuous improvement and innovation to be foundational needs for the future of higher education. As colleges and universities face the challenges of changing demographics and technology, NCCI is well positioned to help staff and faculty develop the relationships and skills needed to navigate change. I am strongly interested in helping NCCI grow and continue to be the home for thought leadership and professional development in the change, continuous improvement and innovation disciplines for higher education.