Ohio University has hired a new director to centralize its academic support services and cut costs.
Mark Hopton will become OU's first director of shared services March 17 and earn a $155,000 yearly salary. Hopton, who currently directs American Greetings' North American shared services center, will report to Vice President for Finance and Administration Bill Decatur.
Hopton said he will establish a shared services center and will work with University Human Resources to ensure employees have benefits and are keeping records updated. He will also work with financial transactions, including paying for invoices from vendors.
The new model will centralize academic support services, which are currently operated both universitywide and by individual colleges and departments. Shared services will include information technology, purchasing, marketing and human resources. OU hopes to reduce academic support costs by more than 20 percent, but officials do not know the total cost of central and distributed support.
The biggest thing is getting it kicked off and started
and letting people know this is a good thing for the university Hopton said, adding that the center will allow OU to focus on education and research, instead of administrative tasks.
Hopton said the university wants to hire a consulting firm, and has had discussions with Hackett Consulting and Accenture.
We will have a consultant coming in to assist and should be hired very soon he said, adding that he does not know how much money the university will spend on a consultant.
Hopton said his daughter will be an OU freshman next year and she made her decision to come to OU before the job surfaced. Hopton said he will pay only for his daughter's room and board while she is at OU.
I look forward to the entire experience
to coming to work at the university
he said. Everyone has been very supportive. My family and I can't wait to make our home down there.
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Emilie Schneider
