Sponsored Programs Staffing Update
A message from Diane Baldwin, Associate Vice President for Sponsored Research
Colleagues,
I am writing to share two staffing updates in Sponsored Programs.
Gretchen Hartigan will leave Sponsored Programs to become the Assistant Vice President of Budgeting, Planning & Business Affairs effective Tuesday, February 20th. Gretchen’s new responsibilities will include overseeing BU’s budget development and monitoring management. Her last day in SP will be February 15. Gretchen’s position will be posted this week.
Gretchen has clearly left her mark in Research Administration. Gretchen started as a Grant accountant at Boston Medical Center in 2000, working her way up to Supervisor and then Associate Director overseeing all of BMC Post Award grants. Gretchen left BMC for BU in April 2012, where she started as the Executive Director of Costing and Compliance; in 2014, she was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Post Award Financial Operations. Gretchen has led post-award operations for 10 years and oversaw numerous critical milestones, including renewal of our indirect cost rate negotiations, successful Uniform Guidance Audits, and submission of thousands of financial reports. In addition, she has led multiple important initiatives, including UMETRICS, Post Doc transition to Employees, COVID Salary Monitoring, and FRED. Her leadership in FRED has positioned this to be the university-wide tool for Schools and Administrators to manage their grants. Gretchen also played a critical role in shaping SP 2.0 and in leading her group to numerous successes and great new hires.
Please join me in thanking Gretchen for her steady, unwavering leadership and in wishing her success in her new role.
Herb Lewis, our Director of Service Center Administration, is retiring from Boston University after 49 years of service. His last day is Monday, March 4th, and his job will be posted this week.
Herb started at BU on January 2, 1975. He has seen it all during his time here, including 4 Presidents and 1 current interim President. Herb started in the Budget Office on Charles River, then moved to a short stint in the Office of Cost Analysis before heading over to the Medical Campus Office of Financial & Business Affairs, where he would spend the majority ofi his BU career.
Herb managed a plethora of tasks while on the Medical Campus, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Property, Payroll, Effort, Real Estate Accounting, and Grant Accounting. In addition, Herb was part of the team that worked on the creation of the Faculty Practice Plans. This occurred when the Boston City Hospital combined with the University Hospital to create Boston Medical Center back in July 1996. In 2006, Herb began to manage the Service Center Administration work as other Medical Campus activities (Budget, Grant Accounting, Payroll, Sourcing), consolidated with Charles River for the start of 1BU. Herb’s knowledge of BU is unsurpassed, and he will be sorely missed within Sponsored Programs and beyond.
We are all excited for him to begin the next chapter. Please join me in wishing him the very best.
Diane Baldwin will be the primary point of contact for both Herb and Gretchen after they leave until their replacements are hired, coordinating with colleagues in SP to support your needs in these areas.