Benefits Lead Working Group

A working group was convened in the summer of 2019 to begin to address the benefits issue. The group was comprised of representatives, including the Provost’s Office, Budget & Fiscal Planning, schools and colleges, and the Institutes/RIO. This group drafted templates to guide the smaller working groups, reviewed and assembled scenarios prepared by the smaller working groups, and worked with administration to prepare for the transition to localized fringe benefits.

Lead Working Group Membership:

  1. Ann Schmiesing (Exec Vice Provost for Academic Resource Management)
  2. Gina Houck (Dir Budget & Finance; Academic Affairs)
  3. Amy Lavens (Assoc Dean Finance & Admin; Arts & Sciences)
  4. Nancy Tway (Senior Budget Officer; RIO)
  5. Stefanie Furman (Assoc Dir Accounting; CCO)
  6. Matt Artley (Dir Budget Pol, Plan, Analysis; BFP)
  7. Katie Walker (Dir Budget Management; BFP)
  8. Venessa Ortega (Ast Dir, Budget Management; BFP)

Small Working Groups

The campus had five smaller working groups to study the benefits issue, with three focused on the special categories identified above and the rest focused on the general benefits issue. This five-group structure is shown below, along with the groups’ membership. Each group had at least five regular members and one ex-officio member, with the five regular members determined by units’ salary spend in the applicable category. Actual members within each group were chosen by the Dean/VC. The ex-officio representative was from the Office of Budget & Fiscal Planning and was tasked with documenting discussions and follow-up items, providing reporting and analysis as requested by the group, and communicating progress to the Lead Group and AABAC.

Small Working Group Charge

Each small working group was tasked with navigating the benefits issue, with a specific focus on their group’s assigned topic (cost-share, DAICR, start-up, general) and with the analytical support of the Office of Budget and Fiscal Planning (BFP). Groups were tasked with:

  • Defining the problems and issues pertinent to their topics, including any unit-specific issues they uncover.
  • Using the support of their assigned BFP analyst, the groups were to ask questions and seek answers related to the benefits issue.
  • Using the support of their assigned BFP analyst, the groups were to formulate two or three solution scenarios specific to their topic, including associated pros and cons for each scenario.
  • These scenarios were to include varying levels of campus contribution to the benefits issue, keeping in mind the goal of finding a truly shared solution.
  • In addition to proposing solution scenarios, small working groups were to discuss and recommend any relevant preventative policies and practices which could help campus units fund their benefits in the future state and avoid further recurrence of the benefits issue.

Where problems and issues overlaped with the assigned topic of another small working group, BFP assisted with facilitating communication between groups, including convening joint meetings.

Small Working Groups Membership:

Cost Share Working Group

  1. Arts & Sciences – Teri Hernández (Assoc Dean for Research; Psych & Neuro)
  2. Arts & Sciences – Jeanie Balch (Manager Finance & Ops; MCDB)
  3. Engineering – Doug Smith (Assoc Dean for Programs & Engagement) / Linda Rose (Manager Research Facilitation)
  4. Institutes – Danielle Felix (Ast Dir Admin & Ops; RASEI) / Gretchen Richard (Dir Finance; CIRES)
  5. Provost Support Units – Joan Eaton (Ast Dir Proposal Development; OCG)
  6. Ex-officio rep from BFP – Jordan Pfannenstiel (Budget Analyst)

DAICR Working Group*

  1. Institutes – Greg Tucker (Prof; CIRES, Geological Sciences)
  2. Institutes – Tammy Sumner (Director; ICS) / Donna Caccimise (Assoc Dir; ICS)
  3. Arts & Sciences – David Jonas (Chair; Chemistry) / Tarek Sammakia (Prof; Chemistry)
  4. Arts & Sciences – John Cumalat (Chair; Physics)
  5. Engineering – Keith Molenaar (Assoc Dean for Research; Civil Engineering) / Linda Rose (Manager Research Facilitation)
  6. Ex-officio rep from BFP – Venessa Ortega (Ast Dir, Budget Management; BFP)

Start-Up Working Group*

  1. Engineering – Bobby Schnabel (External Chair; Computer Science) / Charles Musgrave (Chair; Chem & Bio Engineering)
  2. Leeds – David Gross (Assoc Chair; Finance)
  3. Arts & Sciences – Jim Goodrich (Chair; Biochemistry)
  4. Institutes – Waleed Abdalati (Dir, CIRES; Geography)
  5. Institutes – Randy Siders (Exec Assoc Dir Finance & Ops; LASP)
  6. Ex-officio rep from BFP – Venessa Ortega (Ast Dir, Budget Management; BFP)

*These groups joined together halfway through the study period.

General Working Group 1 (School/College/Institutes Focus)

  1. Arts & Sciences – Dana Takeuchi (Budget & Finance Specialist; Dean’s Office)
  2. Arts & Sciences – Robert Clark (Budget Manager; Dean’s Office)
  3. Engineering – Rory Korpela (Dir Budget & Finance) / Mike Hannigan (Chair; Mech Eng)
  4. Leeds – Christy Edwards (Dir Budget & Finance)
  5. Law – Sean Quinlan (Senior Dir Budget & Finance)
  6. Institutes – Beth Kroger (Chief of Ops; JILA)
  7. Ex-officio rep from BFP – Teddy Niedermaier (Budget Analyst)

General Working Group 2 (Admin/Academic Support Focus)

  1. Infrastructure & Sustainability – Ron Ried (Dir Business Services)
  2. Provost Support Units – Gina Houck (Dir Budget & Finance; Academic Affairs)
  3. FBS – Cindy Pickett (Dir Business Ops; CCO)
  4. OIT – Angie Naillon (Dir Finance, Planning, & Assessment)
  5. Enrollment Management – Gwen Pomper (Assoc VC)
  6. Libraries – Jennie Gerke (Associate Dean)
  7. Lead rep from BFP – Katie Walker (Dir Budget Management; BFP)