2024 Finance and Administration Staff Recognition Ceremony
Vice President Ryan Nesbit Remarks | May 16, 2024

 

Welcome from Ryan Nesbit, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Good morning, and welcome to the 19th Annual Finance and Administration Staff Recognition Ceremony. My name is Ryan Nesbit, and I have the great privilege of serving as UGA’s Vice President for Finance and Administration. And on behalf of the Finance and Administration Senior Leadership Team, we are thrilled to host this great event here in Hodgson Hall once again.

 

Every year, we look forward to our recognition events and to celebrating the countless contributions you all make to the University on a daily basis. We kicked off this week of recognition on Tuesday with our annual Ice Cream Social at the Tate Grand Hall. I hope you were able to attend, spend some downtime and have some fun with your teammates, and enjoy a sweet “thank you” in honor of all that you have accomplished this past year, individually and collectively.

 

We may not have chocolate fountains or ice cream here this morning (though we will have refreshments after the ceremony, so stay tuned!), but that’s OK because today’s main event is even better—and that’s each and every one of you, the remarkably dedicated, resilient, and exceptional members of the F&A team.

 

In our audience today, we have hundreds of skills and critical roles represented, each one unique and extraordinarily valuable. And while these broad and diverse roles and responsibilities may seem a bit unrelated at first glance, when we consider everyone’s contributions together, the bigger picture becomes very clear.

 

Every F&A team member is working toward the same mission: to support and elevate the University of Georgia by providing exceptional service and stewardship of its human, financial, and physical resources. The work done by F&A teams literally reaches every corner of UGA—and we have some great stories to share about that a little later. You show up, you invest in this great institution, and you help the entire UGA community achieve the success and the excellence we all aspire to.

 

Today and every day, I want to express my sincere gratitude for all of you, for the decades of service you have invested in this University, and for the incredible ways you routinely go above and beyond to ensure, the job gets done. So, thank you all for your outstanding teamwork and leadership and for being here today to celebrate your extraordinary accomplishments with one another.

 

Now, before we continue, I would like to introduce our Senior Leadership Team members who join me in honoring you today. So, I’m going to ask them to stand when I call their names and remain standing so we can recognize them:

 

• James Shore, our Senior Associate Vice President and Budget Director;
• Dr. Juanita Hicks, our Senior Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, who will be serving as our emcee for today.
• Brett Jackson, our Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services;
• John McCollum, our Associate Vice President for Environmental Safety;
• Jeff Benjamin, our Associate Vice President for Facilities Management;
• Chad Cleveland, our Associate Vice President for Finance;
• Gwynne Darden, our Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning;
• Dr. Dan Silk, our Associate Vice President for Public Safety, who is unable to join us as he is representing us this morning at a Colleague’s Memorial Service; 
• Dr. Roswell Lawrence, Junior, our Assistant Vice President and Chief of Staff,
• Krista Coleman-Silvers, our Assistant Vice President and Director of Space Planning and Management;
• Jeff Clark, our Chief of Police;
• Eric Orbock, our Director of Real Estate and Executive Director of the UGA Real Estate Foundation; and
• Adam Fouche, our Executive Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Insurance and Claims Management.

 

We also have 2 Special Projects Advisors who serve part-time with our leadership team who you may know and recognize. They are Holley Schramski and Jimmy Williamson, who were unable to be with us today, but they send their congratulations to everyone who is being recognized.

 

Now just as the F&A Senior Leadership Team looks forward to our annual tradition of honoring our teammates, President Morehead also joins us in this tradition. President Morehead has always been, and continues to be, a steadfast supporter of our teams and our recognition program. In honor of the essential work you all do to support the University, he has prepared a special video message for everyone here today, as well as for the entire F&A team, to join us in the spirit of celebration and recognition.

So, without further ado, I am pleased to introduce UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

Remarks from UGA President Jere W. Morehead

 

Remarks from Ryan Nesbit Continued

I want to thank President Morehead for sharing his uplifting message and for participating in our recognition program even when he is unable to attend in person. His ongoing commitment to F&A demonstrates to me the sincerity of his words, and I hope you all take his message to heart, just as I do.

 

Now, it can be easy to get lost in the details of the day-to-day—and I’ll admit I’m guilty of this myself—but I encourage you to take a moment every day to lift your head high and remind yourself of this: You are important, you are deeply appreciated, and the contributions you make are the very foundation of our success.

 

F&A serves as the bedrock of this institution, making every achievement at UGA a shared victory because of your invaluable efforts. We’ve had a lot of conversations around numbers and data this year, and while numbers don’t tell the whole story, they certainly help demonstrate the depth and breadth of F&A’s impact. So, I’d like to share some of these facts and figures with you. Now, as you hear them, please bear in mind that these are just a small sampling and really only the tip of the iceberg—of the critically important work you do, day in and day out.

 

So here are just a few of the standouts from June of '22 through July of '23:

 

• Our FMD team continued to support over 11 million square feet of building space, planted 155 trees, and maintained an additional 10,600 trees across 855 acres.
• All this while processing and completing more than 63,000 work requests.
• And within FMD, Waste Reduction Services processed 319 tons of composted material.
• The Bursar’s Office dispersed a staggering $257 million worth of scholarships to over 28,000 recipients.
• The Sponsored Projects Administration team processed over 6,000 awards and award modifications to support our ever-growing research enterprise, totaling nearly $400 million.
• The Payroll team processed nearly a billion dollars in pay for over 21,000 employees, while our Accounts Payable team processed nearly 260,000 vouchers and disbursed over $769 million in payments for goods and services.
• Mail and Receiving Services sorted and delivered 1.3 million pieces of mail to 242 departments across 177 buildings.
• The Office of Emergency Preparedness trained over 83 hundred students, faculty, staff, and parents, for a total of 248 hours.
• OEP also saw a 269% increase in the number of UGA Safe app downloads, totaling nearly 58 hundred.
• The University Police Department personnel collectively completed over 10,000 hours of training, and our Detectives investigated over 700 cases.
• 58 students earned an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Sustainability, and the Office of Sustainability awarded $40,000 in Campus Sustainability Grants to 8 student teams.
• Our Human Resources team approved over 11,700 hiring proposals through the UGA Jobs platform.
• Transportation & Parking Services carried over 3 million passengers, and Dining Services sold a record 13,100 meal plans, and I know we broke that record once again this past fall.
• The UGA Golf Course hosted nearly 45,000 rounds of golf.
• The 10^th Campus Market Express location was opened by Vending Services at the University Health Center.
• Insurance and Claims Management continued to insure $5.1 billion of buildings and other University property.
• And the UGA Office of Real Estate successfully completed a multi-year process of transferring ownership of the Cohutta Fish Hatchery, which operates as a research and recreational center.
• The Office of Fire and Life Safety in the Environmental Safety Division trained 455 people on the proper selection and use of fire extinguishers and completed nearly 14 hundred compliance inspections across more than 500 buildings.
• And our Office of University Architects had an even busier year than last, managing 194 projects totaling $718 million, a 17% increase over FY22.
• OUA also authored and executed 458 design and construction contracts, while the Office of Space Planning and Management replaced nearly 1,000 seats across 29 classrooms to support UGA’s active learning initiative.
• And I’d also like to mention that the F&A team collectively raised over $11,000 in gifts and monetary donations in December 2022 to support Athens residents in need through the F&A Community Holiday Outreach Initiative. This is a truly wonderful undertaking spearheaded by our Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Committee that saw the impact grow even more this past December at over $15,000.
  
  

Again, these are just a few examples demonstrating F&A’s critically important work and accomplishments, often done in collaboration with many other internal and external partners 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. I encourage you to look over pages 15 through 21 in your program to get a better idea of the combined impact of your efforts, and because ALL our work is truly mission critical,

 

When I say our work is mission-critical, and when President Morehead says F&A keeps UGA running smoothly, this is what we mean: Collectively, the vital services we provide as an F&A team touch every part of this institution, from the student experience, to the groundbreaking research, to the incredible outreach happening across the state, the nation, and around the world.

 

Students engage with F&A daily, from Transportation and Parking Services getting them to class, to Real Estate protecting the borders of campus through property acquisition, to our police, public safety, ESD and OEP teams protecting everybody and everything within those borders. Faculty members lead instruction and conduct research on grounds and in buildings planned by University Architects and maintained by the Facilities Management Division. No one is hired without the support of Human Resources, and transactions can’t move forward without our Finance Division.

 

But this work doesn’t happen in silos…we need the support and buy-in from our campus community to keep the wheels turning. To illustrate this point, I want to mention the impact of collaborative efforts among one of our teams and several UGA partners.

 

Student Account Services, along with EITS and the Graduate School, spearheaded a project to automate various processing tasks for graduate assistants, such as handling tuition waivers and health insurance. Their efforts helped to streamline a cumbersome and time-consuming process, directly contributing to the University’s goal to expand graduate education and support student success. The impact of this work was so profound that they received an enthusiastic endorsement from Ron Walcott, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School.

 

In a letter of commendation, he wrote the following: “The collaboration displayed by the Exemption Automation for Graduate Assistantships Project Team is a model for how we can continue to evolve our enterprise-level systems and thereby continue the upward trajectory of the University of Georgia.”

 

Another example is how our Grounds Department established a central “green zone” across North Campus where electric landscaping equipment is used almost exclusively. As a result, a group of students in the College of Engineering partnered with FMD to develop a portable charging station for electric landscaping equipment, while students in the College of Environment and Design have also helped assess the effectiveness of FMD’s sustainable landscape projects. This teamwork not only helps improve FMD’s operations, but it also gives students hands-on learning experiences in a quickly growing field.

These are the kinds of collaborations that allow us to reach new heights of excellence.

 

And these are just 2 examples… you’ll hear more stories like this when our Merit Finalists and Outstanding Teams take the stage a little bit later, but I want to quickly put into perspective how UGA is able to continue reaching new heights of excellence because of the work you all do and how all this comes together through the entire F&A team.

 

• This past year, UGA was named a Top 20 U.S. Public University for the eighth consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report, and we’re ranked the 9^th Best Public University in the country by Niche.
• Our 4-year and 6-year completion rates also reached record highs, at 75% and 88%, respectively, and the percentage of first-year students who return—over 94%—is one of the best rates in the nation.
• UGA class of 2023 achieved a 96% career outcomes rating, which means that 96% of graduating students either landed a job or continued their education following graduation.
• And, this year’s incoming class was one of the largest and most academically qualified in UGA’s history—and I would really stress here that the services and support delivered by F&A are major factors that influence a student’s decision on whether or not to attend UGA.
• Not to mention, with the announcement and groundbreaking of UGA’s new School of Medicine, even more talent and innovation are coming our way, and F&A will be there to support all of it, every step of the way.

 

Now you may be thinking, “What’s that got to do with me?” The answer is…well, everything…because while many of our units may not be student-facing, ALL of our operations are student-centric.

 

That’s one of our core values, and students would not be coming back in record numbers, year after year, or achieving such success, without the work done by each of you and your F&A teammates. So, the University’s success is truly your success. You all play an essential role here, and no matter that role, you can and do make an incredible impact.

 

You’ve heard me say it before, and you’ll hear me say it again because it bears repeating: In Finance & Administration, there is no doubt that YOU are our greatest strength and most valuable resource.
And that’s why today is all about recognizing you.

 

Everyone you’ll see walk across the stage is setting an example for their teammates and others across UGA. They are steadfast leaders, service-minded advocates, and exceptional teams. Over 7 centuries’ worth of collective service will be recognized today through our on-stage honorees, and that speaks volumes to me. 

 

Closing Remarks from Ryan Nesbit

Thank you, Katherine and Frederic, and congratulations to all our Merit Award finalists and recipients, as well as our Outstanding Teams. Each year, we receive increasingly more nominations across all our divisions, which is so very important, and I want to express a special thanks to the folks who did submit nominations. As you move through your role day-to-day, I really encourage you to uplift one another and make a point of regularly recognizing and expressing appreciation for each other’s efforts. You help us set the gold standard in F&A every day, and that is worth celebrating more than just at this ceremony and this week, but every day.

 

Now before we conclude, I would like to take a moment to recognize the resilience and dedication of our teams in times of crisis. This past year has been marked by incredible success—but it has also presented challenges and tested our resolve. F&A is the foundation upon which the University’s success is built, and we are also the first line of defense and often the first responders in times of emergency and crisis. This was most certainly the case on February 22nd when UGA Police responded to a call about a missing student.

 

The tragic and senseless loss of one of our own rocked our campus community and put a national spotlight on how deeply committed we are to the safety and security of every corner of the UGA campus and every member of our UGA community. Through the concerted efforts of the UGAPD, alongside many other F&A teams and external partners, a suspect was identified and apprehended in under 30 hours.

 

While this does not erase the tragedy and sorrow of a life taken on our campus, the response underscores that “commitment” is more than just a word. Commitment is deeply ingrained in the F&A culture—lived and breathed by the thousands of team members across our units, behind the scenes and on the frontlines.

 

So at this time, I want to recognize those teams and individuals who were involved in any way in responding during the tragedy in February, as well as in the weeks that followed in helping to accelerate our safety and security initiatives.

 

While not formally recognized as an Outstanding Team this year, I want to thank you all, on behalf of the F&A Senior Leadership Team and the entire UGA community, for your extraordinary efforts, your unwavering dedication, and your exceptional teamwork and professionalism that allowed the University to navigate this situation as well as we possibly could. Again, thank you all.

 

Before we conclude our ceremony, let me take just one final moment to congratulate everyone we honored today. Whether for years of service or being nominated for a merit award, you contribute to a distinctive culture of service and excellence within Finance and Administration. And I know you will continue to do so in the future—and you are ALL to be commended.

 

I want to once again thank the Recognition Committee for their hard work and dedication, as well as the many other F&A units and committees for their assistance with today’s ceremony –  Human Resources, FMD, Dining Services, Transportation & Parking Services, Bulldog Print + Design, Mail and Receiving Services, the Bookstore, the F&A Staff Representative Group, the New to F&A Day Committee, and the Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Committee, to name a few.

 

I also want to thank the talented staff members of the Performing Arts Center, Campus Reservations, Office of Special Events and the President’s Office. The support from these teams makes this ceremony and all our recognition events possible. So please join me in thanking all these folks.

 

This concludes our program. Thank you all again for being here this morning and for all you do for Finance & Administration and UGA, and as always, GO DAWGS!!

 

 

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