Four Named Vice Presidents at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Four key Northwestern University administrators were elected vice presidents by the University’s Board of Trustees at the recent board meeting. Named as vice presidents were Pamela Beemer, James Hurley, Ronald Nayler and Ingrid Stafford. All were previously associate vice presidents.

Beemer joined Northwestern University in 2007 as the associate vice president for human resources and has extensive strategic leadership and management experience in all areas of human resources. Prior to joining Northwestern, she served as the assistant vice president for human resources at Michigan State University (MSU) and also held an appointment as an adjunct faculty member in the MSU School of Labor Relations and Human Resources.

Beemer’s background includes human resource leadership in both public and private universities, hospital and health care systems, and private industry. She is a nationally recognized human resources leader and has served in key professional roles, including president of the Society of Higher Education Human Resource Executives, founder and board member of the AAU-Human Resources Institute, board member of the Midwest Business Group on Health, national board member of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources and member of numerous client advisory boards.

Beemer holds a master’s degree in labor relations and human resources and a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary social science with emphasis in psychology and employment relations, both from Michigan State University.

Hurley joined Northwestern in 2006 as associate vice president for budget and planning. He came from Brandeis University where he was the vice president for budget and planning. Prior to Brandeis, he worked at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education as associate dean for administration and finance. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, with graduate course work at Virginia Tech.
 
Hurley serves as the University’s budget officer. Reporting to the executive vice president, he heads a team of 12, each with responsibility of coordinating the development and management of the University’s $2 billion budget in partnership with the network of school and unit budget managers across the University.

Hurley is also a member of the Northwestern Medicine Finance Working Group and has been a leader in establishing the University’s campus in Education City, Qatar.

Nayler, who came to Northwestern in 1997, was the University’s first associate vice president for facilities management. In that role, he leads the facilities functions of the University and oversees the planning, design and construction, and renovation of buildings on Northwestern’s campuses. He is a member of Northwestern’s Sustainability Council and co-chair of the University’s Classroom Committee.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Nayler was the associate vice president for facilities at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1989 to 1997. He also held facilities positions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Connecticut.

Nayler has a bachelor’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree in public affairs and urban planning from Princeton University.

Stafford has been associate vice president for financial operations and treasurer since 2006. She joined Northwestern University in 1977 as assistant to the senior vice president for business and finance and has held several positions, including associate vice president and controller from 1993 to 2006. She is responsible for nine functions comprising treasury, financial operations, insurance, student financial services and business continuity planning. She coordinates the University’s relationships with Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch in maintaining the University’s AAA credit ratings.

Stafford has been an active volunteer and leader in her local community, her undergraduate college, Wittenberg University, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In 2013, she was elected to serve as a member of the national governing board of the ELCA. Stafford was the first woman board chair of Wittenberg University from 2001 to 2005, and she continues to serve on its investment committee.

Stafford received a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Wittenberg University, a master’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in finance and not-for-profit management from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.