Charlene Moore Hayes views her greatest strength as
"relationship building." As the university's newly
appointed vice president for human
resources, Hayes will undoubtedly utilize this talent
as she helps prepare Johns Hopkins for the expected growing
pains associated with the upgrading of many of its
business-related services and functions.
Hayes, currently associate vice chancellor for human
resources at North Carolina State University, will join
Johns Hopkins no later than Nov. 1. She replaces Audrey
Smith, who has served as vice president for human resources
for the past seven years and officially retires from the
post on Sept. 2.
Meg Sonneborn, deputy to the senior vice president for
finance and administration, James McGill, will serve as
acting vice president until Hayes arrives.
McGill said that Hayes, who has a proven track record
of an inclusive brand of leadership, will be instrumental
as Johns Hopkins puts in place a new enterprisewide
business system,
HopkinsOne, that will effectively tie together and
streamline selected business functions, including
purchasing, accounts payable, payroll, general ledger,
materials management and human resources. The current
schedule is for the design stage of the Web-based system to
begin next year and its implementation to be phased in from
2006 to 2008.
"Charlene is a person who is team oriented, focused on
the 'we,' not the 'I,' approach to dealing with issues,"
McGill said. "Her background and skills will be
particularly useful as we revamp the HR business processes
in implementing the new HopkinsOne systems."
Hayes, who has been at N.C. State since 2000, said
that she initiated somewhat of a "cultural change" at that
institution aimed at improving the customer service
abilities of the university's human resources department.
She also led the successful merger of the academic and
staff human resources functions, which resulted in
significant efficiencies for the institution.
"[At N.C. State], the single thing that I'm most proud
of is turning the human resources organization around in
the eyes of the community, so that we are now viewed more
as a customer- and service-oriented organization," said
Hayes on a recent visit to Baltimore. "The key, in my
opinion, is being less bound by rules as we actively try to
work with those in the campus community to achieve their
goals."
Hayes previously worked at Purdue, where she held a
variety of positions before becoming its chief human
resources officer, and at the University of California, San
Diego.
McGill said that Hayes sorted to the top of an
"excellent group of finalists" recommended by the search
advisory committee, which was chaired by Herb Hansen,
senior associate dean for finance and administration at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"I am extremely grateful to the committee for its work
and its success in selling Johns Hopkins to prospective
candidates," McGill said. "Charlene brings to Hopkins a
decade and a half of HR leadership experience in other
universities. At both [Purdue and North Carolina State] she
had a record of successfully taking on increasing
responsibilities. She also leaves at both of those places a
string of accomplishments in leading HR changes to better
accommodate the internal customers."
Hayes, who grew up in the small town of Holly Springs,
Miss., began her human resources career as a labor/employee
relations specialist in Maryland's Montgomery County
government.
A 1978 graduate of Cornell University, where she
majored in Africana Studies, Hayes earned a law degree in
1984 from George Washington University. She is married to
Floyd W. Hayes III, an associate professor of political
science and multidisciplinary studies at N.C. State; the
couple has four children.
Hayes said she is happy to be returning to Maryland
and to be given the opportunity to work for an institution
like Johns Hopkins.
High on her list of priorities, she said, are
continuing the efforts of her predecessor in the area of
institutional diversity and helping "meld the functional
areas and the technology people" during the design and
implementation phases of HopkinsOne.
"What HopkinsOne has in common with what I've done at
Purdue and N.C. State is the culture shift that will be
required to make it successful," she said. "I'm referring
to getting people to work together and then ultimately
agree upon how Johns Hopkins will use HopkinsOne. That is
the challenge: having one system yet meeting a variety of
approaches and needs."
Hayes said that in her line of work the key to success
is partnership building and working for the common good.
"Personally, my goal in facing any problem is to work
with the people who are involved and come up with a
solution that best fits the needs of as many people as
possible," Hayes said. "What relationship building is all
about, in my opinion, is getting people to come to a
consensus on an approach, and I hope my ability to do this
will serve Johns Hopkins well."
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