Current state of financial and administrative operations
Today, many routine tasks—processing forms, arranging travel, and completing certain HR, finance and other administrative work—are distributed across campus and handled in highly variable ways. This level of dispersion creates inconsistency, limits scalability, leads to coverage gaps and results in uneven workloads. The University will assess current practices, stakeholder needs and service expectations to determine which future model would best support WMU.
In practical terms, this effort starts with understanding what work is being done, where it is performed, how it is experienced by those who rely on it, and where shared services or clearer ownership could improve outcomes. The findings will inform a possible design of a future shared-services model for financial and administrative functions.
Benefits
For the University
- Clear visibility into how finance and administrative work is currently distributed and where process redesign could improve systems, scalability and service quality.
- Clearer decisions about which services should remain within individual units, which could be shared and where standardization could reduce unnecessary variation and risk.
- Stronger alignment between administrative structures and institutional priorities by using data, stakeholder input and service-design principles rather than informal workarounds.
For colleges and departments
- More consistent support for common administrative work through clearer processes, service definitions and ownership of routine transactions.
- Clearer service expectations over time, including turnaround standards, escalation paths and accountability for common requests.
- Less reliance on one-off practices within individual units, broader shared support, improved service continuity, and reduced disruption when workloads shift or vacancies occur.
For affected teammates
- Clearer expectations around administrative work, how it connects to other functions and where process improvements could ease daily work.
- More consistency in how common services are defined and delivered across units, helping campus partners know what to expect.
- A deliberate approach to service improvement that begins with listening, data collection and service analysis before major design decisions are made.
Planning approach
Leadership: Dr. Chris Cheatham, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs; Keith Hahn, general counsel; Nicole Kalmbach, senior director of business operations for student affairs; Erica Martinez, senior director of business operations in academic affairs; Colleen Scarff, associate vice president for business and finance; and Jan Van Der Kley, vice president for business and finance, will serve as the steering committee. Western is partnering with Huron for this 7-month, assessment-oriented and evidence-based effort.
Timeline and phases
Assessment (5 weeks)
Assess the current state by establishing a quantitative baseline of how work is distributed today. The team will gather stakeholder input from supervisors, divisional leaders, affected employees and campus partners through interviews and focus groups. The goal will be to understand needs, dependencies and service expectations; define which activities are in and out of scope of the effort; and identify where current processes create inconsistency, undue effort or risk.
Design (8 weeks)
Translate findings into a future-state design, including workflow analysis, organizational structure evaluation and determination, service catalog, service-level agreements and key performance indicators. Map the current organizational chart and job descriptions to the new design.
Implementation (16 weeks)
Implement the new design into operation and focus on stabilizing services over time.
Recent communications
Dear Colleagues,
The first phase of the Financial and Administrative Operations Assessment has now officially started. Welcome! We expect Phase I to last five weeks, and its sole focus is on assessment. During this phase, the purpose is to gather information. We need to understand what you do, how and why you do it, and with whom you interact during the workday to be successful.
Here is what you can expect in the weeks ahead:
- Opportunities to share your perspective through surveys, interviews or small-group conversations
- Questions aimed at understanding needs, dependencies and service expectations
- A focus on listening and understanding
At this time, we would like to introduce you to your Western team members who are serving as the steering committee to oversee the successful completion of this initiative. You may know many of us, but we thought a photo and a few brief points of information would be helpful.
Dr. Chris Cheatham earned degrees in exercise science and exercise physiology from Miami University, Ball State University and Kent State University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the John B. Pierce Laboratory affiliated with Yale University School of Medicine from 2001 to 2003. He joined the University in 2003 as an assistant professor, was promoted to full professor in 2014, and later served as Associate Dean of Academic Services in the College of Education and Human Development. Since 2018, he has held several senior academic leadership roles, including Associate Provost and Vice Provost, and he currently serves as Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Keith Hahn earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law. Following graduation, he practiced private law, specializing in municipal litigation, insurance defense litigation and general municipal law. He later served as in-house counsel for a national insurance company before joining Oakland University as Assistant General Counsel in 2008. He was appointed General Counsel to WMU in 2022.
Erica Martinez earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in organizational change leadership. She has 15 years of experience in higher education, with roles spanning administrative support, business management, financial services and personnel operations. For the past three years, she has served in the Office of the Provost, specializing in budget, personnel and operational leadership.
Nicole Kalmbach earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University. She has spent more than 20 years in the financial services sector, with a career that has included roles in public accounting and higher education. For the past 18 years, she has worked in Student Affairs Business Operations.
Colleen Scarff earned her bachelor’s degree from Creighton University. She started her career at Western in 1997. Prior to serving the University, she held positions at TASUS Corp. in Bloomington, Indiana; Coopers & Lybrand in Lincoln, Nebraska; and Price Waterhouse in San Diego. She also serves as Assistant Treasurer for the University.
Jan Van Der Kley earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University in 1980 and 1983, respectively, and started her career at Western in 1983. Before assuming the vice-presidential role, she held positions in Advancement and Internal Audit. She also serves as Treasurer of the University and related foundations.
The Huron Team
Western is partnering with Huron throughout this project. Many of you may have interactions with the Huron team members, so we also want to introduce them to you:
- Brett Dalton, Principal
- Susan Basso, Managing Director
- Chris Powers, Director
- Kate Schifferli, Manager
- James Arms, Senior Associate
- Dawn Burt, Senior Associate
We look forward to working with you in the upcoming months. Please feel free to reach out to any of your Western colleagues if you have a question or a thought you would like to share. For your convenience, we provided our email addresses linked to our names in this message. Although this is our first communication, we plan to continuously communicate with you throughout this approximately seven-month effort. We are looking forward to the dialogue.
Connect with Administrative Redesign leadership
Other Administrative Redesign initiatives
IT redesign
Campus technology teams are coming together under unified leadership to strengthen security and simplify support.
MarCom organizational design
Marketing and communications functions are consolidating into one team to sharpen WMU's competitive edge.
Strategic sourcing and spending
A new approach to procurement and contracts aims to stretch every non-personnel dollar further.
Space utilization
Classroom scheduling and investment decisions are shifting to match how space is actually used.