Associate Vice President Of Auxiliary Services

The Associate Vice President (AVP) of Auxiliary Services leads Auxiliary Services, a diverse collection of units including Housing and Residential Life, Parking and Transportation Services, Bookstores, U Market and Printing Services, and Contract Administration (including oversight of food, beverage, and vending contracts and the U Card office). These units primarily support the Twin Cities campus with select functions supporting all five system campuses.

The AVP is charged with providing vision, oversight, direction, and leadership for Auxiliary Services, ensuring the effective management and efficiency of these service operations in manners that best support and serve the university's varied constituents, its mission, and its strategic priorities. The AVP reports to the Vice President for University Services and serves as a member of the University Services leadership team.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
▪ Leads the overall strategic and operational activities for the Auxiliary Services units.
▪ Drives innovation and transformational change to support achievement of strategic outcomes and revenue optimization.
▪ Develops and implements programs, policies, and initiatives which contribute to an exceptional student experience. 
▪ Provides leadership in improving processes that enhance collaboration and service delivery.
▪ Ensures the overall performance (financial, service, productivity) of the Auxiliary Services units.
▪ Establishes a culture of accountability and ownership, by establishing the vision, strategy and departmental goals.
▪ Builds a strong working partnership with key university leaders and represents the university on university-wide committees and initiatives.
▪ Develops a communications and outreach strategy that builds confidence and cultivates strong relationships and collaboration across the university that in turns helps the university community understand, embrace, and support new directions.
▪ Creates a service culture that is responsive and rooted in customer service, operational excellence, revenue optimization, sets goals, and is focused on outcomes for customers.
▪ Creates a positive work environment, incorporating the university’s commitment to equal opportunity and recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse workforce, empowering employees to use their full range of talents and abilities.
▪ Participates with the university in engaging union leadership to jointly develop practices that improve engagement, productivity, and quality.
▪ Enhances employee engagement and drives and supports the development of action plans to address issues. Promotes and sustains an employee-focused work environment.
▪ Contributes to the overall strategic direction of University Services and advises on university-wide strategy as necessary.
▪ Leads the formulation and execution of the Auxiliary Services strategic work plan in coordination with other University Services units.

 MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
▪ A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution; a masters or doctoral degree from an accredited institution is preferred.
▪ At least eight (8) years of relevant experience in a large, public, research university or similarly complex and diverse public or private enterprise.
▪ Able to effectively navigate a large and complex public institution with the ability to form positive working relationships across the institution.
▪ Previous experience and a successful track record in senior management and leadership positions.
▪ Experience working with a labor-represented workforce is strongly preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
▪ Strong interpersonal skills with a demonstrated record of establishing effective working relationships with diverse populations and functions, both internal and external to the organization. 
▪ Demonstrated record of taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and passion and the ability to effectively drive change.
▪ Demonstrated ability to work with multiple stakeholders to create a culture of service and continuous improvement. 
▪ A management style that entrusts decision-making into the organization with minimal intervention.
▪ Demonstrated experience formulating and implementing strategic plans.
▪ Ability to make sense of and communicate complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
▪ Ability to communicate effectively and articulately in both oral and written communication , while taking into account multiple perspectives and competing interests.
▪ Ability to develop professional skills of staff to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals.
▪ Ability to work cooperatively with faculty, academic administrators, and staff to develop new programs consistent with the needs of the institution. 
▪ Strong problem solving, analytical, and organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize in a rapidly changing environment.
▪ Demonstrated ability to work effectively with and accomplish objectives through committees and policy groups. 
▪ Demonstrated leadership in implementing technology to support organizational strategies within a large and complex organization.
▪ Possesses both the wisdom and the political savvy to determine which initiatives are important enough to champion and which ones to relinquish.