Chancellor and President J. Michael Haynie today announced the members of the search committee charged with identifying Syracuse University’s next chief people officer and senior vice president for human resources. The CPO will serve as the University’s chief human resources officer, reporting directly to Chancellor Haynie as a member of the senior leadership team.

“Our nearly 7,000 faculty and staff are the foundation of everything Syracuse University does, and this role will help set the strategy that recruits and retains the best people and positions them to do their best work,” says Chancellor Haynie. “I’m grateful to this committee for taking on this important charge, and I’m confident in their ability to identify an exceptional leader for our community.”

The role carries direct responsibility for talent acquisition and development, total rewards and compensation strategy, labor and employee relations, organizational development and change management, and HR technology and data analytics. This senior human resource leader will also lead the advancement of a high-performance culture where faculty and staff can grow, thrive and excel.

The search committee is co-chaired by Terence Lau, dean of the College of Law, and Mary Opperman, senior vice president and University secretary. Committee members are the following:

• Heather Gaines, Deputy General Counsel
• Allen Groves, Senior Vice President and Chief Student Experience Officer
• Lindsay Hochberg, Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Application Systems, ITS
• Jamie Perry, Associate Professor of Management, Whitman School of Management
• Andrea Persin, Assistant Dean of Budget, Finance and Administration, College of Arts and Sciences
• Pam Socker, Director of Compensation Strategy, Human Resources
• Mike Venutolo, Trustee, Board of Trustees

Mike Fandrich, senior director of strategic initiatives in the Chancellor’s Office, will provide project management support and serve as the committee’s primary point of contact throughout the search.

The committee will be supported by Korn Ferry, an executive search firm with whom the University has previously engaged. The firm will work with the committee to help develop the candidate profile, build a broad and diverse candidate pool, and organize the interview process. The committee will evaluate candidates and conduct interviews before presenting Chancellor Haynie with up to four finalists. Chancellor Haynie will make the final selection.

The search will launch this month, with the goal of having the new CPO in place by Jan. 1, 2027.