Wayne State University, a premier urban public Carnegie R1 research university in the heart of Detroit, a revitalized city on the move, seeks a collaborative leader who is a proactive communicator and tireless connector to serve as the inaugural Vice President for Enterprise Planning and Operational Excellence (VP). Wayne State University (WSU) is Michigan’s only urban public research university and holds the Carnegie Foundation’s highest rankings for both research intensiveness and community engagement. It has world-class research programs in the biomedical and life sciences, engineering, social sciences, education, law, and humanities.
Reporting directly to the President, the Vice President (VP) for Enterprise Planning and Operational Excellence provides vision and University-wide leadership in the development of systems and processes that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of planning, analysis, reporting, and decision-making across administrative and academic divisions. In advancing the state of these activities across the University, the VP will play a formative role in creating new institutional capacity and will help leaders and managers allocate resources and measure the use of resource in ways that will increase operational efficiency, maximize return on investment, and guide future strategic planning for success.
The VP will play a leadership role in developing capacity, business practices, and systems that will enable new kinds of data-informed planning, decision support, and process modernization across the university. Assuming responsibility for enterprise technology services, developing tools and systems that will elevate business intelligence, and guiding the creation of institutional data strategy, the new Vice President will on many fronts help Wayne State pursue the goals and objectives established in its 2022-2027 strategic plan, Our Moment In Time.
Creating the Vice President role has entailed both reimagining the role of existing functions and organizing activities that exist only in and for a handful of departments across the University. The VP will both integrate and elevate these local best practices into an enterprise function. Through the reorganization and the realignment of distributed activities, the VP’s portfolio will comprise Computing & Information Technology Systems; Institutional Research & Data Analytics; and Enterprise Process Improvement.
The Vice President will be a committed, talented, and experienced professional with a deep understanding of the academic mission who will bring high-level, strategic analysis skills and proactive leadership abilities to the position. Working as much through influence as positional authority, the VP will lead and support colleagues across the University. The successful candidate will support technology and systems adoption and implement effective service management practices across the university. To contribute fully to Wayne State University’s future success, this position requires active listening, nuanced and empathetic leadership skills, strategic vision, a commitment to collaboration and innovation, and a focus on impact.
Wayne State University has retained Opus Partners to support this recruitment. Craig Smith, Senior Partner, Kenna Boyd, Associate Partner, and Marisea Rivera, Senior Associate, are leading the search. Inquiries, applications, and nominations should go to marisea.rivera@opuspartners.net. The search process will unfold with the greatest possible attention to candidate confidentiality. Required application materials include a resume and cover letter that addresses the responsibilities and qualifications of the role.
Wayne State’s deep-rooted commitment to excellence, collaboration, integrity, diversity, and inclusion creates exceptional educational opportunities preparing students for success in a diverse, global society. Wayne State University encourages applications from women, people of color, and other underrepresented people. WSU is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.
Wayne State University is an equal opportunity employer. No person will be discriminated against or harassed in employment because of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, familial status, marital status, arrest record, height, weight, sexual orientation, qualified Vietnam era veterans, qualified special disabled veterans, recently separated veterans and other protected veterans, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal or state law.
University policy requires certain persons who are offered employment to undergo a background check, including a criminal history check, before starting to work. Prior to an offer of employment, the University will inform applicants if a background check is required.
Wayne State’s history began in 1868, when five physicians who witnessed the crude medical treatment on Civil War battlefields committed themselves to advancing health education and care in Detroit. They founded the Detroit Medical College, which has since transformed into our School of Medicine.
Today, our main, 200-acre campus in Midtown Detroit is home to nearly 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States and 70 countries.
