Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce that Vicky Gress has been appointed as the next permanent Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Budget and Resource Planning. Her appointment is pending approval by the Board of Trustees and she will hold the title of “interim” until that time.
The past few years have brought all of us at Illinois no shortage of complex issues that often required difficult decisions. The choice to promote Vicky Gress to lead our university’s central budget and resource office was not one of these. Her professional expertise, accomplishments and university experience made this an easy and clear decision. She has already been leading these efforts in an acting capacity since Professor Paul Ellinger assumed his new responsibilities with the University of Illinois System in 2021. Since she joined the Office of Budget and Resource Planning in 2014, there is no individual on our campus with a deeper understanding of our budget model nor with a more functional working knowledge of how our financial decisions directly impact the faculty, staff and students here at Illinois.
Vicky has been a member of the Illinois business and finance community for more than 20 years and her experience at department, college and university levels gives her an important perspective. Her long record of collaboration and collegiality has established her as one of the most trusted and respected administrators at our institution.
The Office of the Provost will begin a search to fill her former position (Executive Associate Provost for Budget and Resource Planning) in the coming weeks. We hope to have that position filled before the start of the spring semester in order to ensure that our budget and resource office is operating at full capacity as quickly as possible.
We both want to thank Vicky for serving in this new role. And we hope you will all join us in congratulating our new Associate Chancellor and Vice Provost for Budget and Resource Planning.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Jones
Chancellor
William T. Bernhard
Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost