As previously announced, Associate Vice President Tu Tran will be retiring this year on July 1. During the 12 years that AVP Tran has been at the helm of UC ANR operations, UC ANR has doubled in revenue and size. Within the past five years alone, the organization has experienced significant growth with large new grants and new state funding.
Along with the rest of the UC system, UC ANR also has weathered numerous challenges and adapted to many system changes and new regulations, all of which have taxed our administrative units. The workload for the AVP of Business Operations has grown exponentially, along with the workload and size of the units that report into this position. These units all support UC ANR’s mission delivery; their processes and efficiency are directly correlated with UC ANR’s ability to deliver programs and services.
With AVP Tran’s retirement announcement, we paused to consider options for optimizing workload and efficiency. We looked closely at the structures and reporting relationships at all 10 UC campuses and at UC Office of the President and weighed the different organizational design options against UC ANR’s culture, mission and geographic distribution.
We opted to maintain the size of our senior leadership footprint of AVPs and Vice Provosts from previous years while striving to optimize service delivery. After careful analysis, it was determined that it would be in the best interest of UC ANR’s current stability and future growth to align the existing Business Operations units under two separate AVPs: 1) Finance & Capital Planning and 2) Administrative Services (See new organization chart attached).
Given the current systemwide hiring freeze, I have asked Jennifer Bunge to step into an interim role as the AVP of Finance & Capital Planning. As you know, Jennifer has been serving as the Deputy AVP of Business Operations, working very closely with Tu, and has a very strong understanding of the needs and functions within the organization.
I have asked Kathy Eftekhari, our current Chief of Staff, to serve as the interim AVP of Administrative Services. Kathy has served on the executive leadership team for the past six years and has partnered closely with many of you. Her work on our strategic visioning and planning also gives her a unique understanding of the issues and goals facing administration.
Jennifer and Kathy will work closely together and with the operations teams over the coming months to ensure that this transition goes as smoothly as possible and to identify and address needs and/or roadblocks resulting from this change. There may be additional realignment of responsibilities needed to ensure optimal efficiency and service. We do not want to lose momentum on projects or improvements currently underway.
This new reporting structure will officially take effect on May 1. However, transition into this new structure has already begun so that we may leverage the time left with Tu to transfer knowledge, strategies and duties before he retires.
We have grown and are a stronger ANR than ever before. I am excited about these changes and the opportunities they create for us to address the growth and the ever-increasing complexity of the environment we are currently operating in.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Kathy (kathy.eftekhari@ucop.edu) or Jennifer (jennifer.bunge@ucop.edu).
Glenda Humiston
Vice President
