ABOUT US

What is Shared Services?

Shared Services is a way of organizing administrative processes to promote high quality, cost-effective and reliable service delivery to the University community. It involves consolidating certain routine portions of Human Resources, Payroll, and Procure-to-Pay functions within a new office called Shared Services. The Shared Services Office will have a partnership agreement with units to define service expectations for both itself and the respective unit which ensures accountability and transparency. These updates are based on careful assessments by faculty and staff who are currently responsible for the work to consolidate the common parts of their activities. In the future, specific administrative activities will be restructured and performed as a partnership between the following four groups:
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Local Units: Administrative activities that support local administrative needs will continue to operate within a school or division.
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Shared Services Office: This new office will be focused on measurable service quality and routinized transaction processing.
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Centers of Expertise (CoEs): The Centers of Expertise are the existing central administrative units (e.g., Budget Office, Central HR, and URA) that will focus on institutional strategy, policy, compliance and advisory services.
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Division/School Senior Administrators: Individuals in division office and schools that work with faculty and staff to ensure administrative service and strategic needs are met (e.g., an Associate Dean, AVP of Finance, or a Director of HR). (Note that these administrators are also referred to as Business Partners.)

Approach for UChicago’s Update of Administrative Services

Representative staff experts from across the University were identified to serve on Working Groups to update our administrative services.

These Working Groups are chaired by Shared Service Office Leads who support the project in developing and validating the process and system updates for the University.

HR Working Group Members
  • Love Anderson (Chair, Shared Services Office)
  • Beverly Veal (ARD)
  • Cathe Johnson (Booth)
  • Christina Klespies (SSD)
  • Christine DuSell (Law School)
  • Danielle Bodalski (BSD)
  • Erika Schafer (Central HR Services)
  • Esty Gur (SSA)
  • Jessica Greenfield (PSD)
  • Kellyn Gawel (Lab School)
  • Kris Roach (Central HR Services)
  • Renee Lucido (College)
  • Sandra Curry (CSL)
  • Sara Saathoff (BSD)
P2P Working Group Members
  • Patti Ferriter (Chair, Shared Services Office)
  • Arleta Porter (Facilities)
  • Brian Lipinski (Lab)
  • Dana Hubbell (CSL)
  • Debra Cavey (Procurement Services)
  • Henry Way (PSD)
  • John Sanchez (ARD)
  • Katie Hunt (IT Services)
  • Mark Felhberg (Procurement Services)
  • Paul Cronin (BSD)
  • Ron Whelin (Shared Services Office)
  • Tiffany Parach (Humanities)

Our Leadership

Ronald Kolbash

Ronald Kolbash

Associate Vice President of Shared Services

Ronn has nearly 20 years of successful experience delivering improvements to university and government business operations across finance, human resources, payroll, procurement, facilities, academic operations, and research administration. Prior to coming to the University of Chicago in 2015, he was the AVP for Shared Services at Yale University. He also served as the Director of Ohio Shared Services in the State of Ohio.

Ronn received his Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School and his Bachelor’s Degree from the Ohio State University.

Patti Ferriter

Patti Ferriter

Director, Procure-to-Pay Services

Patti has worked for the University of Chicago in multiple roles since 1990, most recently as the Division Controller in F&A. She brings 25+ years of experience working within UChicago’s F&A organization to the UChicago SSC leadership team where she will serve as the Procure to Pay work stream lead. Prior to her career at UChicago, she was an auditor for Thomas Havey & Co. Patti has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Jim Hamaguchi

Jim Hamaguchi

Director, HR and Payroll Services

Jim’s career with the University of Chicago has spanned over 25 years. In his career with the University, he has held several roles in various divisions in the fields of Payroll, Human Resources, and Information Technology. Jim has held the role of Payroll Director for the University for over 11 years. Over the years, he has played key roles in many of the University’s system modernization projects which include the initial installation of OnBase, UChicago Time, and Workday.
Kimberly Shannon

Kimberly Shannon

Director, Customer Resolution and Quality Management

Kimberly brings over 20 years of experience leading customer facing teams. Most recently, she was the Director of Training and Quality Assurance for the School Support Center at Chicago Public Schools. In this position, she led and developed a team of financial specialists who provided budget and financial assistance and training to the District’s 500 plus Principals and their office staff. Kimberly has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Central Missouri and a Master’s Degree from Rockhurst University. Additionally, she is a Certified Public Accountant.