PRASE project directors appointed

Patrick Monahan, vice-president academic & provost, and Gary Brewer, vice-president finance & administration, have issued this letter to the York community:

We are pleased to announce the appointment of three of the four project directors who together will provide leadership for Phase 2 of the PRASE (Process Re-engineering & Service Enhancement) project. These project directors are senior administrators who have significant experience at York, have demonstrated leadership in their various positions and will be seconded from their current roles to work with us in the development of detailed work plans for each of the work streams within Phase 2.

Sarah Cantrell will serve as the project director for the Accountability & Budget Planning work stream while continuing in her current position as the director of the Integrated Resource Planning Office within the Office of the Vice-President Academic & Provost. Sarah has 18 years of experience at York, and in previous roles led the Budget Review Process within the Office of the Vice-President Finance & Administration, served as the executive officer of the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and senior coordinator of Academic Planning.

Renata Faverin will serve as the project director for the Human Resources, Finance, Procurement & Research Accounting work stream. Renata has served as the director of Procurement for over a decade and has 25 years experience at York, including as manager of strategic initiatives within the Office of the Vice-President (Administration) and as project manager for the Student Services Review within the Office of the Vice-President Academic Affairs & Provost.

Janet Morrison will serve as the project director for the Student Services work stream. Janet has served as the executive officer of the Faculty of Health since its creation five years ago. She previously served as the executive officer within the Faculty of Environmental Studies, and as the director of Student & Academic Programs within the Faculty of Environmental Studies.

We are in the final stages of finalizing the fourth project director, who will lead the Information Technology work stream, and expect to be able to announce that appointment very shortly.

As is evident by the experience and seniority of the project directors we have selected, there was a high level of interest in these roles and a significant number of highly qualified candidates. We are gratified by the level of interest in the community in the project director role and want to thank all those who applied.

The four project directors will take up their new appointments effective Sept. 1, will report directly to us and will be responsible for providing leadership over the next one to three years as we implement the ambitious agenda identified in the Phase 1 PRASE report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) this past spring. As set out in the Phase 1 Report, York’s current service delivery model is not necessarily effective or efficient, can often be frustrating for students and staff, and requires improvement. The PwC report identified a series of changes needed to address these issues, including the need for a proper cross-University accountability framework that will clearly define responsibilities and accountabilities for services delivered centrally and those provided in a decentralized manner.

A central feature of PRASE will continue to be broad-based consultation and community involvement. Over 300 community members participated in the workshops led by PwC that led to the Phase 1 Report, and hundreds attended the two community information sessions that we hosted in March upon the release of the report. We look forward to working closely with Sarah, Renata and Janet as we embark on Phase 2 of PRASE, where we will be focusing on re-engineering existing processes to ensure effective and efficient use of our resources and better services for our students, faculty and staff. We look forward to continuing to engage members of the York community to ensure that their views shape the evolution and development of this important project.

Yours very truly,

Patrick Monahan and Gary Brewer