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Sullivan cabinet takes shape

New EVP for Health Affairs, Chief Communications Officer round out previous choices

	<p>The University ranked among the seven best schools for free speech, in part because of its openness to dissent during the aftermath of the Sullivan ouster.</p>

The University ranked among the seven best schools for free speech, in part because of its openness to dissent during the aftermath of the Sullivan ouster.

In an organization as complex as the University, it is difficult for one person to remain fully attuned to the needs of multiple communities, ranging from undergraduate students to physicians in the Medical Center. To help her manage these issues University President Teresa Sullivan has called assembling an effective leadership team a top priority.

As of January 2013, more than 20 individuals — including executive vice presidents, special advisors, the director of intercollegiate athletics, the College at Wise chancellor, general counsel and various University directors, to name a few — report directly to Sullivan.

Sullivan’s search for cabinet successors began more than three years ago, in late summer 2010, when Sullivan stepped foot on Grounds as the University’s eighth president. These appointments have come through both the creation of new positions and the retirement or resignation of past cabinet members.

Sullivan’s Chief of Staff Nancy Rivers said the cabinet changes reflected an actual reorganization of top officials intended to generate new perspectives and ideas.

“There has been no retitling of people,” Rivers said. “These are all new people coming in, or new positions.”

Two of the University’s executive vice presidents, Leonard Sandridge and Tim Garson, announced in May 2010 their plans to leave the University — Sandridge, to retire after 44 years at the University, and Garson, to take a position as senior vice president for health policy at the University of Texas. Sullivan, in a 2010 statement to the University, called the search for their successors “one of the most important tasks for the year.”

Following one of the University’s most tumultuous periods in decades, which included the botched ouster of Sullivan followed by her subsequent reinstatement, Sullivan announced plans to create a new blueprint for the future of the University through a strategic planning process, and the presidential cabinet took responsibility for advising Sullivan in her creation of the Strategic Plan.

Sullivan brought in Chemistry Prof. John Simon as Executive-Vice President and Provost and Michael Strine as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer in 2011. Strine resigned his position in August 2012, just after Sullivan’s reinstatement, and former Ernst & Young executive Pat Hogan was hired to replace him shortly thereafter.

University Spokesperson McGregor McCance said in an email leadership changes offered the University a chance to consider new strategies and perspectives.

“Leadership succession often presents an opportunity to examine how an organization does its work, bring in new or different ideas, or to consider changes in structure that can improve effectiveness or efficiency,” McCance said.

Sullivan reorganized the top positions at the University Medical Center and created the position of Executive Vice-President for Health Affairs, who will oversee the Medical Center, the U.Va. Physicians Group, the clinical operations of the Medical and Nursing Schools and the Claude Moore Health Library.

The next Chief Operating Officer of the Medical Center and the Dean of the Medical School will both lose cabinet status, instead reporting directly to the incoming EVP for Health Affairs, Dr. Richard Shannon, who was recently appointed and will start Nov. 1.

Rivers acknowledged the broad authority in academic and clinical affairs as well as the substantial amount of responsibility Shannon would have, but emphasized the concurrent increase in organizational efficiency.

“Shannon’s position … represents the combination of the executive leadership responsibilities of two vice president positions,” Rivers said in an email. “Dr. Shannon’s is a new position which mirrors what many people across the country have done in regards to the health system.”

Sullivan said the new EVP position, one of only three at the University, represented the Medical Center’s increasing importance. The Medical Center’s 2013-2014 budget is $1.2 billion, only slightly less than that of every other part of the University combined.

“The creation of this new position is an organizational change that reflects the importance of the Health System and the elevation of the leadership role as a direct report to me,” Sullivan said in a University press release.

The “dynamic and rapidly changing health care environment” was one of the 10 reasons former Rector Helen Dragas outlined for the attempted ouster of Sullivan she led in the summer of 2012.

“The U.Va. Medical Center, while excelling at cutting edge patient care and research, competes with competent and sophisticated private health systems providing high quality health care in a market undergoing substantive structural change,” Dragas said in the June 2012 statement to the University community. “Implementation [of the Medical Center’s strategic plan] will require strong leadership and very ambitious interim steps.”

Other parts of Sullivan’s cabinet have undergone changes as well, as new appointments fill spots left vacant after retirements and newly created positions.

“Changes in leadership are part of how organizations function,” McCance said. “President Sullivan is confident that the new members of her leadership team, along with those already in place in other positions, will help her address the many challenges facing U.Va. and higher education at a critical time.”

Carol Wood, associate vice president for public affairs, retired and was replaced by Anthony de Bruyn last October for an interim period. Dave Martel accepted the permanent post effective in August along with the additional title of Chief Communications Officer. McCance reports to de Bruyn and Martel. Sullivan praised Martel’s business acumen as much as his communications work.

“Dave brings a wealth of experience in strategic communications and marketing at a time when the University and all of higher education are facing opportunities and challenges that require thoughtful and effective communications,” said Sullivan in a press release earlier this year.

Another position left vacant due to retirement was Rob Lockridge’s position of Executive Assistant for State Governmental Relations, which was consequentially filled by former Virginia Secretary of Education Laura Fornash effective in November.

Ultimately, Sullivan’s initiatives for change and progress are reflected in her reorganization of cabinet members and positions.

“Organizational change requires constant communication and analysis,” McCance said. “President Sullivan and her leadership team work closely together and will carefully evaluate the initiatives they work together to achieve.”

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