Vice Dean for Administration and Finance/Chief Operating Officer

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Job Category:

Limited

Employment Type:

Regular

Job Profile:

Assoc Dean

Job Summary:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) seeks an exceptional and strategic leader to serve as its Vice Dean for Administration and Finance/Chief Operating Officer (COO).The COO reports directly to the Dean and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and works in close partnership with faculty, staff, and colleagues across SMPH, UW-Madison, and the broader state and local community. The COO will provide world-class executive leadership for the school's administrative enterprise, including finance, human resources, operations, facilities, information technology, analytics, and organizational effectiveness, with a focus on how these areas can synergize efforts to reach bold, shared goals. As a key advisor to the Dean, the COO will play a central role in advancing the school’s strategic priorities through operational excellence, long-range financial planning, and the thoughtful stewardship and deployment of institutional resources. This is a rare opportunity to shape the next era of growth, impact, and excellence at one of the nation’s leading public medical schools throughout a newly created leadership role.

The creation of this COO role reflects SMPH’s commitment to strengthening the administrative, financial, and operational capabilities needed to support its next phase of growth and impact. The COO will join SMPH at a transformative moment, helping to strengthen operational excellence, modernize administrative systems, and align resources with the school’s strategic direction. Ultimately, this leader will play a pivotal role in shaping how SMPH evolves, grows, and delivers on its mission of advancing health and health equity in the years ahead.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of the world's leading public research universities and among the most comprehensive institutions of higher education in the nation. As Wisconsin's flagship land-grant university, UW–Madison combines exceptional academic breadth with a longstanding commitment to research, innovation, and public service. The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is an internationally recognized leader in academic medicine and the nation's first school to integrate the fields of medicine and public health, which is central to its identity and impact. Consistently ranked among the country's top medical schools, SMPH advances a distinctive mission that integrates education, research, clinical care, and public health to improve the health and well-being of communities across Wisconsin and beyond. The school houses 28 academic departments, numerous research centers and institutes, and a broad portfolio of degree programs spanning the health professions and biomedical sciences.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Provide executive leadership for the school’s administrative operations, establishing strategic priorities that align with the Dean's vision and advance the school's academic, research, clinical, and public health and service missions.
• Lead the School's administrative divisions, including finance, human resources, workforce planning, facilities, information technology, project management, and business analytics, ensuring operational excellence, fiscal stewardship, and outstanding service across the organization.
• Serve as a strategic leader within the university and across the University of Wisconsin system to advance long-term financial sustainability and institutional priorities.
• Help lead implementation of the strategic plan including the release of effective use of resources for the key initiatives identified in the 2026 Strategic Plan.
• Develop long-range administrative and financial strategies that strengthen organizational effectiveness, improve operational performance, and ensure the school remains financially sustainable.
• Be able to roll out effective business analytics that can work across the different units of the school as well as the university and the UW Health System including use of leading best practices of artificial intelligence. This would work across all of the key domains of finance, research, and clinical practices such that SMPH has a single source of truth.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement by establishing performance metrics, evaluating outcomes, and implementing innovative approaches that enhance efficiency, service, and organizational effectiveness.
• Partner closely with the Dean, senior school leadership, UW Health, the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), university leaders, and external healthcare partners to address strategic operational issues, align priorities, and advance institutional initiatives in support of the school’s academic, research, clinical, and public health missions.
• Serve as a strategic change leader, helping the school navigate a period of significant organizational transformation while advancing operational excellence across a complex network of university, health system, and external healthcare relationships. This includes leading through evolving administrative models, technology modernization efforts, enterprise process improvements, and increasingly integrated approaches to supporting the school’s academic, research, clinical, and public health missions.
• Work in partnership with the UW Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration to foster collaboration across a wide range of financial, administrative, and operational goals.
• Lead major initiatives requiring executive-level coordination, including implementation of the school’s strategic plan and other high-priority cross-functional projects, while effectively navigating complex governance structures, competing stakeholder interests, and significant organizational change.
• Advance the use of technology, analytics, automation, and AI-enabled solutions to improve decision making, operational performance, workforce planning, and resource allocation.
• Ensure effective enterprise risk management in collaboration with university and health system leadership, maintaining compliance with applicable laws, regulations, university policies, and contractual obligations.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships with faculty, staff, department chairs, clinical leaders, and campus partners, fostering trust, transparency, and shared accountability.
• Recruit, develop, mentor, and evaluate senior administrative leaders while building a high-performing, inclusive, and mission-driven administrative organization.
• Have a systematic approach to leadership development and career ladders.

Department:

School of Medicine and Public Health, Dean's office

Compensation:

Negotiable, 12 month

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in relevant field required, terminal degree preferred.

• At least 5-10 years of experience working within higher education.

• 10 or more years of significant senior operational leadership experience in an academic medical center, integrated health system, research-intensive university, or similarly complex organization.

• A strong understanding of human resources processes and the workings of a university.
• Demonstrated success leading large administrative organizations with responsibility for finance, operations, human resources, and organizational effectiveness.
• Experience creating economies of scale and improving operational efficiency across complex organizations.
• Proven record of improving operational performance, financial stewardship, and organizational effectiveness within complex, highly regulated environments.
• Experience working successfully within large, distributed, matrixed organizations serving multiple missions, with demonstrated success navigating complex governance environments and aligning a wide variety of stakeholder groups around shared objectives; ability to build trusted partnerships with physicians, faculty, staff, administrative and academic leaders, and health system executives.
• Demonstrated experience establishing strategic priorities, performance metrics, and accountability frameworks.
• Proven ability to build and use data analytics to drive decision-making and organizational performance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Track record of leading enterprise-wide process improvement and operational transformation, including stakeholder engagement, change management, organizational redesign, technology implementation, and sustained adoption of new ways of working.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and strategic decision-making skills, balancing financial, operational, political, ethical, and cultural considerations.
• Experience leading organizational change, integration, and culture initiatives.
• Exceptional collaboration, communication, and relationship-building skills across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Reputation for integrity, sound judgment, transparency, and stewardship of institutional resources.
• Demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and effectiveness in navigating ambiguity and organizational complexity.
• Proven ability to recruit, develop, and retain high-performing leadership teams.
• Leadership style characterized by humility, emotional intelligence, accountability, and commitment to public service.

Education:

Master’s degree in a relevant field required; terminal degree preferred.

How to Apply:

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process with a priority application date of October 3, 2026. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters (addressed to the search committee) should be sent via the Isaacson, Miller website: Vice Dean for Administration & Finance/Chief Operating Officer | Isaacson, Miller .

Your cover letter should address how your training and experience aligns with the required and preferred qualifications listed above. Application reviewers will rely on these written materials to determine which applicants move forward in the process. References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified once the search concludes and a candidate is selected. Electronic submission of materials is required.

University sponsorship is not available for this position, including transfers of sponsorship and TN

visas. The selected applicant will be responsible for ensuring their continuous eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of an employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment. If you are selected for this position you must provide proof of work authorization and eligibility to work.

The department will not be able to support a request for a J-1 waiver. If you choose to pursue a waiver and apply for our position, neither the UW nor UWMF will reimburse you for your legal or waiver fees.

Contact Information:

Deb Gugel, [email protected], 608-445-3224

Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment. 
 
The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7). 
 
The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.