Dave Lawlor, who joined UC Davis on Nov. 3 as the university’s first chief financial officer, has united the two halves of the old ARM under a new name: Office of the Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer-Finance, Operations and Administration.

The office acronym is VC-CFO. And here’s the new Web address: cfo.ucdavis.edu.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT?

Lawlor’s FAQ acknowledges VC-CFO’s composition is similar to ARM’s, but notes these differences:

• “One of the most important differences concerns campuswide strategic planning. Our organization will have a significant focus on long-term strategic planning, enhanced partnership across all of UC Davis (we will have a stronger linkage with our colleagues at the health system), with UCOP and with colleagues at other campuses across UC.”

• “Technology will play a much more significant role in our future, and we will be organized to take advantage of the deep knowledge within the team.”

• “We will create a hub of project management and business consulting expertise.”

• “Our organization will build on the collaborative base inherent in today’s organization and operate as a more unified and less decentralized organization, sharing cross-functional challenges and capabilities.”

CFO INTERNSHIPS

The Office of the Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer announced a new internship program, describing it as “a highly competitive opportunity for both graduate and upper classmen undergraduate students to work on impactful key campus initiatives as well as receive active mentoring from campus administrative leaders.” Interested students can apply through Aggie Job Link.

The unit’s two halves retain their names: Finance and Resource Management, and Campus Planning, Facilities and Safety, led by Kelly Ratliff and Karl Mohr, respectively, each of them a senior associate vice chancellor.

Finance, resources, facilities, planning and safety formerly comprised Administrative and Resource Management, or ARM — until last summer, when Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi appointed Ratliff and Mohr as the leaders of separate divisions.

That was before Lawlor even applied to work here. Now, with Katehi’s backing, he is putting the divisions back together. “Under the umbrella of ‘One UC Davis,’ we will organize as one support organization engaged to further the core mission of the UC Davis Office of the Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer-Finance, Operations and Administration (VC-CFO),” Lawlor wrote in an FAQ that accompanied a letter he sent to his division’s 1,600 employees last week.

In the letter itself, Lawlor wrote: “A new name, while not an enabler by itself, encourages us to think afresh about what we want to build.”

He told Dateline UC Davis the new name is more descriptive of the unit’s broad responsibilities, including an emphasis on financial and capital management across the university, from the Davis campus to the Sacramento campus.

As chief financial officer, Lawlor has dotted-line reporting relationships with all assistant deans for finance, operations and administration, and their counterparts in nonacademic units — “to foster an enhanced level of collaboration.”

“I trust that this reporting relationship will allow us to mutually support key objectives,” he wrote. “Drawing on the strengths and linkages of this group will allow us to work on the challenges and opportunities with collective wisdom, and I am excited about engaging this group in this manner.”

First 100 days and 4 guideposts

Besides announcing his division’s new name, Lawlor gave an account of his first 100 days at UC Davis — listening to people’s perspectives “on what is working really well” and visions “of what we might aspire to,” and “considering together the big questions about the university of the 21st century.”

In his letter to everyone in Finance, Operations and Administration, he outlined four guideposts (listed here with excerpts from his letter):

• Resource Stewardship — “We will use our scarce resources in a thoughtful, optimal manner. … The economic model embraces more than campus inflows of resources and campus executive decisions — the model creates a structure that will cascade multiyear plans throughout the organization and allow all employees to see how their daily work and decisions benefit the whole. … I look forward to working with VC-CFO units to determine how we can best deploy and demonstrate responsible stewardship of scarce resources to ensure financial health.”

• Planning, Execution and Operational Excellence — “Thoughtful planning and relentless execution become our reputational core. … In support of this goal, our organization will work with colleagues across campus to create technology roadmaps, convene a Business Intelligence Task Force and develop data management principles.”

• Customer Service — “We must delight our customers in every aspect of what we do. … We must continue to build into our culture the desire to provide more than our clients are expecting; to reach outside of our specific scope to most effectively identify opportunities to serve, and to search for new ways to obtain client feedback and reward employees who continually exceed this goal.”

• Develop and Inspire Our Team — “Together we will reach the next level of performance while supporting, developing and caring for our teammates. … As leaders in our organization, I am asking you to continually look for opportunities to develop, recognize and reward staff.”

In connection with developing and inspiring his division, Lawlor asked his leadership team to work with supervisors and staff to embrace alternative work arrangements such as flexible schedules and telecommuting (“a great tool for increasing employee morale while providing benefits to the campus”), and added that VC-CFO will launch its own “coordinated, robust telecommuting program” in the spring. 

Raising the bar

Lawlor summarized his first major communication in this way: “In order to be a world-class institution, we must be as well run as the best multibillion dollar institutions in the world.

“As impressive a past as we have, and let there be no doubt I fully recognize the gem UC Davis is, writing the next chapter in higher education requires a relentless focus on improvement — the world as we know it is shifting.”

He pledged to “align our organization around a common vision, empower and organize our people, to foster a collaborative and community principled environment.”

He thanked everyone in the division for all the work they do, and said raising the bar will certainly include “how well we care for each member of this team.”

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