UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Financial operations at Penn State will undergo a transformation in late 2025, guided by the findings and insights of the Finance Optimized Service Team (OST).
"Through the past three years of exploration, analysis, and conversations with our faculty and staff, it’s become clear that our current financial structure, with its siloed staff and widely varying processes, is simply unsustainable for our staff and the University we serve,” said Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for Finance and Business and treasurer. “Over the next year, we will build a dedicated network of financial professionals, united by best practices, continuous learning and a strong culture of support.”
Launched in 2022, the OST has connected with the community through listening sessions, engaged consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to develop recommendations and conceptualized a framework for a future state of financial operations.
Saurabh Bansal, professor of supply chain management and OST co-lead, said, “We are committed to creating clearer processes, adopting better technology, and providing consistent service for everyone, ultimately creating pathways for our staff and Penn State to excel in its mission.”
Five hubs will be established in Penn State Finance and Business. Employees who are in finance classified roles, and those who have significant financial duties in Penn State colleges, campuses and units will join these new hubs in November 2025. The process to identify employees who will join the hubs has begun and will continue over the next several months.
“We know this process will have many hurdles to overcome. It will be challenging to integrate the many unique systems and processes that support a wide range of priorities,” Thorndike said, “However, we are embarking upon this change because it is a necessary evolution for the future of our University and for our employees. Together, we will define a new standard of customer service to align with our customers’ needs and our new finance organization’s enhanced capabilities.”
She added, “The OSTs, along with other change initiatives in progress across the University, are positioning us to navigate the evolving landscape of higher education, creating a sustainable financial organization for years to come. Every optimization we make will ultimately help us deliver on our mission of enhancing student success.”
The new financial organization will:
- provide consistent, high-level financial services across all units, for faculty, staff and students;
- build standardized, efficient, University-wide finance processes and policies, reduce complexity, introduce technology and leverage scale to drive down costs;
- create a streamlined, University-wide operating model that allows for consistency and visibility across Penn State;
- clarify finance-related roles across departments, colleges and campuses;
- lift up Penn State’s financial professional workforce by providing clearly defined career paths, professional development opportunities, and progression / leadership opportunities for Penn State finance team members over time; and
- undertake intentional initiatives to build a supportive workplace environment for employees.
"This transformation will also benefit our non-financial employees. By absorbing all financial activities within these hubs, we’ll be freeing up capacity for our non-financial staff,” Bansal said. “This will allow more of our community to focus on their primary role in fulfilling Penn State’s mission, including our financial employees.”
Overview of new model
The hub structure was developed over more than two years of discussion and evaluation, surveys of the financial community, and engagements with third-party consultant PwC. With the benefit of community input and consultation, OST leads have finalized the structure of the new finance organization, which will have five hubs dedicated to:
- controllership
- procurement and accounts payable
- bursar
- treasury and accounts receivable
- financial planning and analysis
“As with any large organizational change, it will take all of us working together to get this right — and this will be an evolving process,” said Thorndike. “We will continue to partner with our financial staff, University leaders and other key stakeholders to implement, evolve and optimize these new hubs.”
The transformation is expected to create opportunities for career growth and skill development for financial employees, and there are no planned layoffs or salary reductions as a result of this OST effort.
Impact of listening sessions
As a key component of the OST effort, more than 30 units and 500 staff members have attended listening sessions since November 2024. These focused engagements allowed community members to review the proposed operating model, ask questions, and provide valuable feedback and insight.
“Our team has benefited enormously from these conversations and continues to incorporate our staff and faculty’s feedback into our approach,” Bansal said.
For example, participants emphasized the value of having dedicated financial team members easily accessible to their units, citing strong partnerships and nuanced understanding of the unit’s needs and priorities. As a direct result of this feedback, the OST implemented a new element within the new operating model, the creation of unit liaisons/strategic partners. These individuals will function as the bridge between the hubs and units, maintaining the essential connection and deep understanding that the current employees provide.
Several participants also shared challenges in managing their growing workloads and the resulting impact on their work-life balance.
Thorndike said, “With this transformation, we are committing to investing in our employees’ well-being and success, including addressing excessive workloads and prioritizing work-life balance.”
As implementation continues, the feedback from faculty and staff will continue to have impacts. Bansal said, “As we move forward with this University-wide integration, continued collaboration will be critical as we refine this model to best serve the community.”
Next steps for in-scope employees
After an initial communication to notify employees of this transformation, the Finance OST will be reaching out to understand employee interests, relevant experience, skill sets and career goals. This information will be used to guide job profiles, levels and hub assignments for each employee.
While the overarching structure of the transformation has been established, Thorndike emphasized the process of building new teams, finalizing University-wide processes for unified financial operations, implementing new technologies and helping the University community to work with financial staff in new ways, is still very much in progress.
“Every employee joining Finance and Business will join a new hub that is aligned with their professional talents, goals and aspirations,” Thorndike said. “Through this entire process, setting our financial professionals on a path to success remains at the core of our intentions. The hubs will also include training for these new roles and future career opportunities.”
As the Finance OST moves into a period of intense activity this year, employees and other key stakeholders will continue to receive regular updates and have opportunities to share perspectives and stay engaged with email, web updates and information sessions.
About the Finance Optimized Service Team
Penn State’s financial operations are the backbone of everyday functions and successes at the University. The Finance OST is dedicated to optimizing business practices, enhancing service and support for the University community, and creating clear career pathways and professional growth for Penn State staff. The most recent updates can be found on the Office of Enterprise Change and Transformation website, including timelines and frequently asked questions.