NEWS RELEASE
WEST HARTFORD, CT (June 2014) – Peggy Huston, Director of the Operational Excellence Program at the University of California, Berkeley, will be recognized at the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation’s (NCCI) Annual Business Meeting/Awards Luncheon on July 18 as a Leader of Change in higher education, during its 15th Annual Conference, July 17-19, in Seattle, WA.
Deborah Ford, Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Peter C. (Chris) Halladay, Associate Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness at Cornell University were also selected by an NCCI review panel for special recognition.
Peggy Huston has served as Director of UC Berkeley’s Operational Excellence Program Office since 2010, and has been a leader in the UC Berkeley administrative community for 13 years. Beginning in 2010, she led the process to form design teams to explore seven campus-wide improvement areas identified by Bain & Co.: energy, IT, finance, high-performance culture, organizational simplification, procurement, and student services. Next she coordinated the development and assessment of 50 project proposals by the OE Coordinating Committee, composed of representatives from the faculty, staff, and student populations.
The campus invested approximately $75 million in one-time funding for a portfolio of 24 projects covering a wide scope, ranging from implementing Shared Services, introducing an e-procurement system, offering campus-wide access to common IT tools, aligning Berkeley’s student advising community, and implementing projects focused on workforce development and organizational culture, among others. Peggy was selected to start up and lead this ambitious, highly visible, campus-wide effort. Today, the implementation phase of the Operational Excellence Program is about 70% complete. Nine projects are already embedded in campus operations and, as a result of ongoing improvements, are enabling a more efficient and effective administrative organization.
NCCI’s Board implemented the Leaders of Change Recognition Program in 2013 as part of its vision of functioning as a catalyst for higher education institutions to work collaboratively and employ effective methods to advance academic and administrative excellence. The purpose of the program is to identify leaders of change throughout higher education, recognize them for their accomplishments, and help link them with their peers to further leverage the impact of their good work.
Each of our institutions of higher education has leaders of change, but given the diversity of roles that these leaders play in our institutions, they often go unrecognized. “Leaders of Change” identifies and celebrates these exceptional individuals whose efforts have resulted in significant impact in their institutions and beyond.
The Excellence Committee, under the leadership of Maury Cotter of the University of Wisconsin -Madison, and Tim Klassen, Director of the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service, organized a review panel to evaluate the 13 nominations NCCI received.
“This program is part of a broader strategic effort to identify those individuals who are leading change on their campuses and to grow the network of change leaders within higher education,” said NCCI President Catherine Lilly, who is the Senior Advisor to the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. “I congratulate these three outstanding leaders, as well as all of those who have been nominated for recognition.”
Here is some information about the accomplishments of the other Leaders of Change:
Deborah Ford
In just four years as Chancellor at UW-Parkside, Ford has developed an entire new leadership team, created a four college model from two colleges, created an Office of Institutional Effectiveness, and developed a Strategic Plan. She also led the effort to build a fabulous regional Fine Arts Center, engaged the entire geographic region, and increased enrollment and giving, a challenge especially in Wisconsin, where there has been great upheaval amid state budget cuts.
Peter C. (Chris) Halladay
Thanks to his influence and leadership as Associate Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness, Chris Halladay made leadership programming, which was only available in one division in 1993 to the late 1990s, accessible to all Cornell employees on the main Ithaca Campus; at the Geneva Agriculture Experiment Station; at New York City locations, including the Industrial & Labors School in Manhattan, NYC Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island, NY, and the Cornell Weill Medical College in Manhattan; and to the Cornell Weill Medical College in Doha, Qatar, within the past five years.
What began with three programs has grown into 10 leadership programs (offered to academics, research, staff, and post docs) and two management academies (one for faculty and one for staff) that each offer multiple modules, 16 for staff and 7 for faculty, and many projects that have increased the awareness of Cornell faculty and staff (e.g. 360s, performance management, supervisor feedback, career levels aligned to competencies, and career development).
Other members of the Class of 2014 being recognized as Leaders of Change include:
- Robert Boyd, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management, California State University, Fresno.
- Daniel Brown, Dean of University College and Director of the PACE Center at Texas State University.
- Daniel Clay, Dean of the College of Education, University of Missouri.
- Mary Catherine Gaisbauer, Comptroller, Purdue University.
- Jennifer Howard, Vice President of Administrative Services, Everett Community College.
- Karen Slakey Hull, Associate Vice Chancellor for Organizational Excellence, University of California, Davis.
- Reba-Anna Lee, Associate Director of Academic Technology, Marist College.
- David Rudd, Provost, University of Memphis
- Teresa Seyfried, Program Operations Manager, University of Washington.
- Cindy Taylor, Director of the Office of Quality Initiatives, Carleton University
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For Release: Immediately
Contact: Christopher G. Blake, CAE, Executive Director
Tel: 860.586.7567, ext. 565/Email: cblake@ncci-cu.org
