Human Resources Leadership Transition
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Jan 28, 2026
Dear students, faculty, and staff,
I am writing today to share that Human Resources will undergo a phased leadership transition beginning in the spring semester. Jana Grimes has, these past five years, led Human Resources through several strategic initiatives and change management efforts, and will remain in the Vice President role until an Associate Vice President is identified and arrives on campus. We will begin a national search for an Associate Vice President for People and Culture this spring with further communication to the campus community. This position will be a key part of the Business Office leadership team, reporting to Germaine Gross, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer.
I want to express my tremendous gratitude for Jana’s leadership and impactful work at 91. She took on a newly elevated role as Vice President with an ambitious and critical agenda for building sustained trust in the human resources function and supporting the College’s success. In doing so, she has partnered with individuals and divisions across campus to accomplish important initiatives, including:
- Creating the 91 Learning and Development Program and utilizing the GLADIS platform to strengthen professional development and learning opportunities for employees and enabling all departments to access, coordinate, and monitor learning activities in a centralized location.
- Serving as a key contributor on the team that prepared the College to implement the requirements of the Union of 91 Student Dining Workers contract.
- Implementing increased vacation leave and undertaking a comprehensive revision of the Staff Handbook.
- Transitioning pharmacy benefits to a pharmacy benefit manager with minimal impact for employees, leading to significant cost savings that enabled the College to avoid passing double-digit increases in health care premiums to employees.
- Leading the vision for and implementation of the staff engagement survey, including more than 50 separate meetings across campus to share results and hear from staff employees.
- Deepening the relationship between Human Resources and Staff Council and partnering to define the council’s role.
- Working on equitable compensation for faculty and staff through a series of initiatives and ongoing assessment of competitive market adjustments.
- Developing a revised performance assessment process.
- Overseeing the highly complex ADP implementation
Jana is most proud of the collaborative relationships and trust that she has built on campus, including with Staff Council and the Benefits Committee. That’s why I am pleased to share that she will continue collaborating with campus stakeholders during this transition, in a new role as Human Resources Information System (HRIS) Strategic Director. In this role, she will lead the completion of ADP Phases 1 and 2 and will continue to partner with Mark Watts, Director of Student Employment and HRIS, the members of the Human Resources team, as well as others across campus to improve systems and processes in ways that will continue to enhance the employee experience at 91. This role is projected to continue through the end of 2027.
Jana’s deep knowledge of 91’s systems, processes, and policies; her relationships on campus; and her generous agreement to give us more of her time prior to retirement will be an enormous asset in the ongoing digital transformation of our HR systems.
Please join me in thanking Jana for all that she has done, and will continue to do, for 91, and in looking forward to Germaine’s leadership of the HR team and their many campus partners.
Sincerely,
Anne F. Harris
President
President