"Associate Provost for Finance and Planning"

Job Details

Associate Provost for Finance and Planning

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

COVID-19 vaccination or a University authorized exemption is a requirement for all positions at the University of Pennsylvania. For more information about Penn's vaccine requirements, visit the Penn COVID-19 Response website for the latest information.

Posted Job Title
Associate Provost for Finance and Planning

Job Profile Title
Executive Director C, Business and Finance

Job Description Summary
The Associate Provost for Finance and Planning (AP) is the senior finance and operations executive for the Penn Provost with direct responsibility for finance, budget, human resources, capital projects, facilities, and academic technology for approximately 40 administrative units with approximately 1,500 staff and annual operating budgets totaling $500 million.

Reporting to the newly selected Provost, John Jackson, Jr., the AP provides advice and counsel to the Provost on a broad array of academic initiatives and opportunities. The AP serves as primary budget liaison to the university's 12 schools and 10 resource and administrative centers and provides leadership to variety of ongoing and ad hoc University committees. In addition, the AP is the point person for the Provost Office on centrally funded faculty hiring initiatives such as Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors and Presidential Professors, including facilitating resolution of complex sometimes multi-school issues related to recruitment of the most highly distinguished faculty members.

As an important partner to the Office of the Senior Executive Vice President, the AP works collaboratively with Facilities and Real Estate Services and School leaders to define priority space needs as well as to identify and negotiate for new space solutions for academic units and serves as the Provost's representative on the Capital Advisory Group (CAG) which reviews all facilities projects over $500,000, as well as participates on the executive committees for new school building projects. The AP serves on the Penn Technology Investment Committee and typically acts as a co-sponsor of academic enterprise technology projects, including Workday Human Capital Management and the Next Generation Student System. The AP also serves as member of Provost's Senior Management Group and provides strategic advice and guidance to University HR on employee benefits programs and their impact on recruiting and retention.

Job Description

COMPETENCIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

The AP will bring the administrative, financial, planning, and communication skills appropriate to someone who is serving in an executive role. The AP will be an inclusive and innovative leader who weighs decisions thoughtfully and involves others in the decision-making process as appropriate. They must work with the highest levels of integrity, honesty, and openness and must create strong and enduring collaborative relationships with leaders across the University.

The AP should possess senior-level operational and administrative experience in a comparably complex setting and a significant period of progressively responsible leadership and administrative experience in several of the functional areas that fall within the position's scope of responsibility; while expertise in finance and budget is valuable, the ability to lead broadly and synergistically across the portfolio areas will be crucial to the AP's success and impact.

As important as functional expertise are certain core principles and competencies. These include the ability to lead through influence independent of positional authority; a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that is lived, visible, and actualized; the ability to develop trust relationships so as to work effectively in a decentralized environment with matrixed lines of authority and accountability; and the confidence and credibility to represent Penn to advisory and governance entities.

The AP will have the following qualities and attributes:

• Demonstrated leadership and expertise in the areas of finance, budgeting, and strategic planning.
• Creativity and strategic thinking in overseeing finance and budgeting and related processes in a large, complex research institution, including an ability to forecast and project all possible impact related to decision making
• Willingness to delegate significant responsibility to staff and provide overall leadership for various departments as they relate to other parts of the University.
• Commitment to shared governance, transparency, and collaboration throughout the institution.
• Appreciation of academic values and standards of excellence.
• Respect for and understanding of mission-driven institutions and service driven leadership.
• Ability to work with diverse ideas at all levels of the institution.
• A deep understanding of the issues related to advancing DEI efforts and a record of combatting these bias in the workplace.
• Strong work ethic and the ability to work with large ongoing projects while addressing the daily issues that require resolution.
• Superior communication and organizational skills.
• Strong presentation skills to a variety of stakeholders.
• Collegial consensus-building abilities combined with the capacity for innovative vision, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, comfort with facilitating change, patience, flexibility, and resilience.
• Ability to listen and engage intelligent, empowered stakeholders in difficult and challenging decisions.
• Ability to work effectively as a team player in an evolving environment.
• Ability to proactively problem-solve and multi-task.
• Unquestionable integrity.

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree preferably in Business/Finance/Accounting, plus 10 or more years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Demonstrated leadership experience in budget modeling and the budgetary process.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in higher education.
• Understanding of human resources principles and practices
• Experience in working with unionized employees.
• Experience with capital planning; strategic planning and developing strategic plans; experience with grant/gift administration strongly preferred.

TO APPLY

The University of Pennsylvania has retained Opus Partners to assist with this search. Please direct all inquiries, nominations, and applications (resumes and letters of interest) electronically and in confidence to Katie Dean, Associate Partner at katie.dean@opuspartners.net and Thomas Lapierre, Senior Associate at thomas.lapierre@opuspartners.net.

Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Job Location - City, State
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School
Provost's Center

Pay Range
$90,000.00 - $363,333.33
Salary offers are made based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, as well as internal and market factors and grade profile.

Affirmative Action Statement
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements
Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits
(Details about benefits omitted for brevity, as per instructions to focus on main content.)