Colleague Connection: Supporting Our IT Colleagues
Northwestern IT Administration and Finance (A&F) provides IT staff with administrative and human resources support and is crucial in budgeting, resource allocation, and fiscal planning. We asked Steve Beck, the department’s director, to share how the team works to meet IT’s and the University's immediate technology needs and pave the way for sustainable growth.
What are the primary responsibilities of your team, and how do they impact the IT organization?
We function as Northwestern IT’s local business office, which is staffed with human resources (HR) and finance experts who support their colleagues. Fundamentally, that means we help Northwestern IT acquire the people and budget dollars it needs to deliver high-quality IT services. Then, it’s our job to ensure we correctly account for how we use those resources.
- Financial: On the finance side, we manage Northwestern IT’s budget. This involves working with IT leaders during the fall and winter to request additional funds for next year’s budget. At the beginning of the new fiscal year, we set the budgets across all IT departments. Throughout the year, we process—and help other staff members process—expenditures and billings to customers. Then, at fiscal year-end, it’s intense, as we work with many IT staff members to ensure all transactions have been correctly recorded before the books are closed.
Each month, we meet with individual IT leaders to review how they’re doing related to their budget and to look at their anticipated spending for the rest of the year. These meetings help us make sure we live within our means and don’t blow the budget. They also help us identify opportunities to ensure we wisely spend all resources entrusted to us. - Human Resources: On the HR side, we support IT leaders in making virtually all staffing decisions, including new hires, promotions, merit increases, and other organizational moves. We schedule job-candidate interviews, process the maze of required HR forms, and work directly with the central HR staff to help IT staff members understand HR policies. And I can’t forget one more very important task—we make sure everyone in IT gets paid.
- Administrative: To help our IT colleagues focus on their jobs, we also take care of several other non-technical tasks, such as ordering office supplies, handling building issues, and making sure staff members have Wildcard access to campus buildings.
It’s a big job, and given the size of our organization (one of the largest support organizations at Northwestern), our team is not large. Six staff members report to me. But, I believe we get the job done because I’m blessed with an incredibly dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard-working staff. We have some of the longest-serving IT employees. Two members are 20-year veterans, and two others have been with IT for more than 30 years. They all know the ins and outs of working with Northwestern departments, understand University policies and procedures, and are skilled at working on our administrative systems.
But, we certainly can’t do it alone. We collaborate with staff members in other IT departments who play important financial roles in supporting their departments. Most importantly, Sean and his leadership team not only know information technology and how to deliver IT services, but they are also financially sophisticated, engaged, and fiscally responsible, which really helps us do our jobs.
How do you approach budgeting for IT projects, and what are some of the challenges?
Northwestern has many aspirations, most of which require money. At the same time, although it is a wealthy organization, the University is financially conservative. So, our biggest budget challenge is competing against other worthy projects from across the University for available funds. Despite this, IT has successfully obtained additional funding over the past several years.
Certainly, one reason is that information technology continues to grow in importance. Think of the need for information technology to support remote teaching and operations during the pandemic and still today. Think of the critical role that information security plays in protecting the information entrusted to the University. Think of the way information technology has become such a fundamental part of Northwestern’s billion-dollar-plus research operation. Northwestern IT is in the middle of all of that—and much more. But that alone doesn’t fully explain our success.
I believe Northwestern IT has been able to attract budget dollars because Sean and his leadership team have been able to explain the need to invest in IT in convincing ways that resonate with University senior leaders and that align with Northwestern’s priorities. Equally, if not more important, after making those cases and receiving additional funds, our organization has delivered time and again. All IT staff should be proud of this because they make it happen.
It all comes down to trust. When Northwestern IT tells University senior leaders we need budget dollars for this or that, they trust us. They trust that we will make it happen and that we will be open and transparent in accounting for those dollars because that’s what Northwestern IT does."
Director
Administration and Finance
What is your favorite place on campus?
I’m not sure I have a favorite place, but I really miss being on campus—1800 Sherman just doesn’t count as being on campus. When I walk over to host new employee orientations at the Allen Center, I always take the same route—through the sorority house grounds just north of Rebecca Crown, through the Weber Arch up to University Hall, then past Deering Library. Somehow, walking on campus past those historic buildings makes me think of what the University is all about and why I have a job here; it makes me feel fortunate and proud to have been able to work here for so long, and it makes me realize just how much I will miss this special place when I finally do retire someday.
Fun Facts from The Team
Steve Beck, director; Gladys Villareal, business administrator 2; Josephine Williams, accounting specialist; Sue Nardini, business administrator 2; Angela Galindo, senior financial analyst; Kevin Hall, IT support specialist; Tu Truong Figueras, senior manager financial analyst.