Dear colleagues,
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here at Rice for nearly seven months! I appreciate all of the support, care and information so many shared with me. I spent the majority of my time these first months learning about our organization and the campus and hearing from you about your hopes and concerns.
I have seen firsthand that each of you brings a deep commitment to Rice and cares about helping the university achieve its goals. We are a hardworking team, and that dedication and duty was best seen throughout the pandemic as your work served the institution so well. Building on this foundation of excellence and diligence, over the coming months and years, we will evolve to support the growing ambitions of the university and the new strategic plan that is being created.
This year, we have several key initiatives in these areas:
- Cultural Transformation as we become one organization that anticipates and serves the needs of the university
- Sustainability in achieving Carbon Neutrality and incorporating sustainability practices into our daily work
- Developing methods that ensure Capital Excellence from project initiation to final execution
- Budget Transformation – a partnership with the Provost that will bring transparency and incentives to our budget model
- Develop an Enterprise Risk Management Strategy
- HR Excellence to develop a five-year human resources strategy that enables HR partnership throughout the university
- iO Evolution which ensures our enterprise IT systems are meeting our needs
As we look to this year, please join me in forums and monthly Lunch and Listens. I will send monthly updates about our department and the progress we're making, and our F&A Leadership team will provide opportunities for you all to engage and provide feedback on these important initiatives. Have a wonderful weekend, and please reach out if you have questions or input.
All my best,
Kelly Fox, Vice President for Finance and Administration