Chief of Staff and Associate to the Chancellor update

Chancellor's Messages

Dr. Rodney D. Bennett
Chancellor

Chief of Staff and Associate to the Chancellor update

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Zeleny as chief of staff and associate to the chancellor, effective Jan. 5, 2018. This move follows the announcement last week that Bill Nunez will become interim vice chancellor for business and finance, upon the retirement of Christine Jackson. Mike will serve as a senior adviser and will report directly to me on a wide variety of strategic and executive duties, special projects and initiatives involving the chancellor’s office and its priorities, including internal and external relations.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from Nebraska, has studied abroad and was named Nebraska’s first Marshall Memorial Fellow, where he studied the trans-Atlantic relationship. A native of Exeter, Nebraska, Mike has actively served on boards and volunteered in community organizations, including the Lincoln Downtown Rotary Club.

Mike currently serves the university as associate vice chancellor for research and economic development, overseeing business, administration and planning. For more than 20 years, he has contributed to our university’s research growth and the expansion of our economic development mission. He has also served the university as longtime chief of staff to the vice chancellor for research and economic development and through various committees and task forces, including as director of the Emergency Operations Command and chair of the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee.

I am so appreciative of the phenomenal leadership Bill Nunez brought to this role over the past seven years and I look forward to working with him in his new role as interim vice chancellor. Bill is the epitome of a servant leader and we are fortunate his impact will continue at an expanded level for our campus.

Please join me in congratulating Mike as he assumes this critically important leadership role for the University, as we elevate and expand our excellence on the eve of our sesquicentennial anniversary year. I could not be more pleased.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season. I am looking forward to an even brighter and bolder 2018. Thanks for all that each of you do every day to deliver on our mission.

Best regards,