Chief of Staff to EVP Finance and Administration

Chief of Staff to the EVP for Finance and Administration Requisition

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Chief of Staff to the EVP for Finance and Administration

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The University of New Mexico seeks a collaborative, strategic, and accomplished administrator to serve as Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration (EVPFA). As a senior deputy to the EVPFA, the Chief of Staff plays a central role in advancing institutional priorities, strengthening executive leadership, and ensuring coordinated execution across one of the University’s largest and most complex portfolios.

UNM’s Finance and Administration organization supports the University’s administrative, financial, and infrastructure functions, encompassing a broad portfolio that includes financial services, budgeting, human resources, information technology, public safety, environmental health and safety, capital and space, institutional policy, and campus support services. The Chief of Staff plays a key role in ensuring that resources, systems, and operations are aligned with institutional priorities.

Reporting directly to the EVPFA, the Chief of Staff helps advance strategic priorities, coordinating complex cross functional initiatives, facilitating executive decision making, and ensuring organizational priorities remain aligned across the division. The Chief of Staff works closely with university leadership, the President’s Office, the Board of Regents, faculty and staff leaders, and external partners on matters of strategic importance.

This is not only an advisory or coordinating role. The Chief of Staff carries delegated authority to decide, commit, and direct on behalf of the EVPFA within defined limits, and has supervisory responsibility for critical enterprise functions, including the University Policy Office, Crisis Management and Emergency Preparedness, and the EVPFA executive office.

The successful candidate must be comfortable moving between strategic advising and hands‑on execution, counseling leadership on sensitive institutional issues, providing oversight to assigned departments, and developing high-quality work under tight deadlines. The Chief of Staff’s portfolio may evolve over time as additional enterprise functions or institutional priorities are assigned to the office.

• Serve as the EVPFA’s principal strategic advisor on organizational priorities, emerging issues, and executive decision making.
• Exercise delegated authority on behalf of the EVPFA on operational and administrative matters, applying judgment about what to decide, what to bring forward with a recommendation, and what to expedite immediately.
• Research, analyze, and synthesize complex information to support executive decisions and institutional strategy.
• Anticipate issues requiring executive attention and develop recommendations and options.
• Represent the EVPFA in meetings, committees, and institutional initiatives, as appropriate.

• On behalf of the EVPFA, oversees the University Policy Office and Crisis Management and Emergency Preparedness department; sets goals and performance expectations, evaluates staff, makes staffing decisions, and administers budgets for assigned units.
• Lead the EVPFA executive office, including supervision of executive office staff, management of the office budget, and continuous improvement of office operations.

• Strengthen the effectiveness of the Finance and Administration leadership team by ensuring that significant issues receive appropriate attention and that commitments made by divisional leaders…