Two members of University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin’s office will be let go as the new campus leader rearranges her staff, Martin said Wednesday.
Chief of Staff Casey Nagy and Executive Assistant Deb Lauder will lose their jobs after a transition period. Both were members of the senior staff of former Chancellor John Wiley, who retired in August.
Martin will hire two people to replace them, though she does not know if they will have the same exact titles or responsibilities. She hopes to develop exact job descriptions and post the jobs within the next 10 days.
“I don’t know whether I’ll be replacing them with exactly the same jobs,” Martin said. “One of the things I want to do is configure what I do in the chancellor’s office differently.”
Nagy, a lawyer who has been with UW since 1991, was involved in some of Wiley’s most critical decisions. He said Wednesday he understands Martin’s need to make some changes.
“The chancellor has to put in place the mechanism that he or she finds necessary to achieve their goals,” Nagy said. “That’s always a part of the transition in leadership, and I want to do my best to make sure we make that transition.”
Martin stressed the decision did not have to do with Nagy’s or Lauder’s performance and added both will have the opportunity to take jobs elsewhere at UW under their contracts.
“These are both really talented people who have served the university extremely well and will continue to serve the university extremely well,” Martin said. “They will pick up positions elsewhere.”
Nagy will lead a nationwide search for a new vice chancellor of university relations, after which he will leave his position. He said it will take at least six months to perform the search for the new vice chancellor, adding the date to do so is “pretty fluid.”
This new vice chancellor will oversee discourse between UW, the community, the state Legislature and state industry, as well as oversee UW Communications. Various administrative positions will remain unfilled to keep the vice chancellor’s salary within budget.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
