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University of Michigan

Assistant Vice President for Carbon Strategy
Office of Campus Sustainability and Innovation

Key Information

●        Location / Work Model: Primarily Ann Arbor, Michigan, with system-wide coordination including Flint and Dearborn campuses. Meaningful on-site presence is expected. Flexible hybrid arrangements are available based on role needs.

●        Reporting Line: Reports to the Associate Vice President for Campus Sustainability and Innovation (reporting to the CFO).

●        Team: Leads 12.5 FTE; two direct reports

●        Travel: Periodic local travel for partner and stakeholder meetings, and professional network and other engagements as appropriate.

●        Compensation: $200,000 - $230,000, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

●        Websites: https://planetblue.umich.edu and https://ocsi.umich.edu/

Introduction

The University of Michigan seeks a collaborative, mission-driven executive to serve as Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Carbon Strategy within the Office of Campus Sustainability and Innovation. U-M is undertaking one of the most ambitious energy systems transformations in higher education. The university is modernizing how buildings are heated and cooled, emphasizing long-term resilience, reducing energy demand through efficiency measures and enhanced building performance, and developing Michigan-based renewable energy solutions at scale. These actions serve the public good and shape how students, our future leaders, envision energy innovation for decades to come. The ideal candidate brings a track record of driving large-scale energy transition endeavors from initial roadmap planning to full-scale implementation

With an annual operating budget of $15.6 billion, the University of Michigan is a world-class public research institution dedicated to sustainability leadership. U-M has commitments to net-zero Scope 2 emissions in 2027, total elimination of Scope 1 emissions by 2040, and a net-zero endowment by 2050. These commitments cover 42 million square feet of space across more than 1,000 facilities in the state of Michigan, including all three academic campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint), Athletics, and Michigan Medicine's extensive clinical and research facilities. By aspiring to implement one of the world's largest heating hot water conversions, U-M provides a living lab for innovation that enhances the educational experience for our 69,000 students while serving our region and the world.

The AVP for Carbon Strategy provides critical large-scale energy transition expertise that translates complex technical and financial options into decision-grade recommendations for leadership, aligns partners on priorities and sequencing, and ensures decisions translate into delivery with measurable, verified outcomes.

Job Summary

The Office of Campus Sustainability and Innovation (OCSI) connects people, expertise, and campus systems to implement institution-wide sustainable solutions — cultivating technical, educational, and collaborative methods that strengthen the campus as a resilient, innovative, and inspiring demonstration system for generations to come.

Reporting to Shana S. Weber, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Campus Sustainability and Innovation, the AVP is a senior leader within U-M’s Business & Finance (B&F) organization and OCSI. The role provides strategic and technical leadership across multiple concurrent initiatives. You will lead the OCSI engineering and data analytics teams while coordinating closely with the OCSI lead team, the Utilities group within Facilities & Operations, the B&F Finance team and other executive and operational stakeholders.

OCSI leads U-M’s carbon neutrality strategy, collaborating across the institution to translate priorities—like long-term energy systems resilience and building efficiency—into funded projects and measurable results. This role facilitates leadership decision-making regarding project prioritization, sequencing, and funding strategies. In doing so, the AVP effectively connects strategic projects and capital planning with financial strategies, governance processes, stakeholder engagement, and energy resilience goals.

The successful candidate will bring a proven track record of leading energy transition initiatives from strategy through planning and delivery — including electrification, thermal system conversions, district energy modernization, major maintenance integration, or equivalent infrastructure decarbonization programs. Because this expertise forms the foundation of the role, the ideal candidate will arrive ready to leverage their established industry knowledge immediately.

Working closely with Facilities & Operations, Finance, the Office of Planning and Strategic Initiatives, and other partners, the AVP uses their expertise to build investment cases for major initiatives and contributes to the performance framework that Utilities establishes to manage delivery and verify outcomes.

Success requires strong enterprise change management leadership, sound judgment, and the ability to establish trust and communicate with credibility across technical, operational, and governance audiences.

Responsibilities

1) Portfolio Capital Strategy and Governance

●        Convert energy and carbon pathways into decision-grade recommendations for leadership, including the value proposition, key tradeoffs, risks, and expected impact.

●        Build capital-ready business cases for priority investments, covering lifecycle cost, emissions impact, operational impacts, sequencing, and delivery dependencies.

●        Partner with capital projects governance bodies to embed energy and carbon performance requirements into portfolio selection, project approval, and execution standards.

●        Set portfolio performance expectations and the governance rhythm for tracking verified results.

●        Align cross-functional stakeholders so decisions move cleanly from analysis to approval to delivery.

2) Campus Energy Transition and Building Performance Delivery

●        Lead the short and long-term portfolio roadmap to eliminate campus carbon emissions, including electrification, building efficiency and equipment modernization, in close partnership with campus Utilities to advance steam-to-heating-hot-water transitions and large-scale renewable power development.

●        Manage two direct reports with oversight of a 12.5 FTE implementation team with a $1.7M energy management budget, including the Revolving Energy Fund and campus-wide efficiency initiatives.

●        Lead the execution of a high-impact building-level energy conversion and equipment conversion program, serving as the foundational pillar of a multi-year carbon neutrality implementation plan. Manage complex stakeholder governance and technical integration to achieve significant decarbonization targets against established baselines.

●        Partner with Facilities and Operations to advance building-level upgrades, commissioning/recommissioning, and demand reduction strategies in alignment with infrastructure strategies (such as geo-exchange, thermal storage, etc.).

●        Support major planning efforts, including the Ann Arbor central campus, Flint and Dearborn utility master plans, the extended geo-exchange deep-bore study, and subsequent implementation phases in the multi-year plan.

3) External Partnerships and Multi-Campus Alignment

●        Manage external relationships that accelerate delivery, including local utilities and other industry partners, municipalities, state partners, peer institutions, and community stakeholders.

●        Coordinate alignment across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses, where shared standards, approaches, and partner relationships create leverage toward shared goals.

4) Strategic Initiatives and Enterprise Programs

●        Manage multi-stakeholder initiatives across corporate partners, finance teams, executive leadership, and academic institutions.

●        Develop business plans, value proposition studies, and aligning sustainability initiatives with large-scale financial and capital planning processes with executive decision-makers.

●        Support energy infrastructure master planning and complex sustainability programs across multi-site and multi-campus organizations.

5) Portfolio Performance, Emissions Accounting, and Reporting

●        Track and articulate the value of sustainability investments across the capital portfolio; collaborate with communications teams to develop and publish annual impact reports leveraging established organizational metrics.

●        Provide critical expertise in reviewing and updating the university’s building design guidelines to optimize minimum sustainability performance standards, including carbon valuation and accounting.

●        Oversee the integration of sustainability performance expectations across the capital project and major renovation lifecycles; lead reviews from conceptual design and schematic phases, ensuring alignment with initial executive-level inputs and institutional decision-making frameworks.

●        Lead or ensure delivery of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions accounting, impact assessment, and reporting requirements.

6) Executive Advising and Stakeholder Engagement

●        Advise the AVPCSI and CFO leadership team on carbon neutrality implementation, partnering closely with the OCSI lead team.

●        Serve as strategic advisor and analytical lead on sustainability alignment across capital projects as a member of the Capital Council Working Group, consistent with Campus Plan 2050.

●        Prepare and present materials for Capital Council Working Group meetings and other executive officer engagements as needed.

●        Provide strategic advising to the executive-level Sustainability Leadership Council (SLC)

●        Coordinate across OCSI on shared initiatives (e.g., campus-as-lab program development, design guidelines, and communications/engagement).

●        Engage with student and community sustainability/climate advocacy groups and represent U-M through relevant regional and national professional networks.

●        Support the AVPCSI in donor-facing deliverables.

Success Criteria

Outcomes expected in the first 12-18 months:

●        Trusted expertise: The experience this role brings adds significant value and rigor to strategic planning for campus energy infrastructure.

●        Strong operating partnerships: Campus partners work effectively together, with clear roles, efficient escalation paths, and an operating rhythm that keeps decisions and delivery moving.

●        Ready-to-fund investment pipeline: A prioritized set of energy transition investments is ready for approval, with clear sequencing, dependencies, and risk tradeoffs.

●        Portfolio tracking and reporting: A repeatable tracking and reporting cadence is in place, tied to delivery milestones and verified outcomes (cost, schedule, and emissions/energy performance).

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

●       Proven track record of directly leading large-scale energy transition or decarbonization programs.

●       Hands-on experience driving the modernization of complex energy infrastructure systems, including but not limited to:

○       District Energy System Modernization (e.g., steam to hot water);

○       Campus or Portfolio Electrification (large-scale or organization-wide programs);

○       Thermal Infrastructure Modernization (geoexchange, thermal storage, heat recovery)

○       Building Portfolio Energy Efficiency Improvements (at an institutional or municipal scale).

●        Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (such as engineering, sustainable systems, urban planning, etc.), or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.

●        Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional capital and operational initiatives involving technical, financial, and operational stakeholders.

●        Demonstrated experience building investment cases for capital projects integrating lifecycle cost, emissions outcomes, and short- and long-term risk tradeoffs.

●        Demonstrated experience leading staff and managing budgets, including direct supervision and accountability for program performance and outcomes.

Desired Qualifications

●        Advanced degree in a relevant field.

●        Demonstrated experience with institutional emissions accounting, impact assessment, and reporting across Scopes 1, 2, and 3.

●        Demonstrated establishment of performance requirements and verification across design, construction, and operations (e.g., commissioning/recommissioning, measurement and verification, building automation modernization).

●        Demonstrated experience in higher education, public sector, nonprofit, or other mission-driven environments with complex stakeholders and public accountability.

●        Demonstrated management of external partnerships across utilities and other relevant industries, municipalities, state partners, community stakeholders, and peer institutions.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is, first and foremost, an energy and buildings systems resilience and modernization leader. All other capabilities described below are evaluated in that context.

Capabilities required for success in this role:

●        Energy Transition Leadership (Critical): A career defined by planning, financing, and delivering energy system modernization at scale. The candidate can speak with authority and specificity about what it takes to move complex energy infrastructure from legacy systems to decarbonized alternatives — including the technical, financial, political, operational, and risk mitigation dimensions of that work.

●        Technical Credibility: Demonstrated ability to engage at depth on thermal systems and building performance (HVAC/MEP, envelope, controls/BAS, commissioning, and recommissioning) and quickly separate viable pathways from non-viable options.

●        Investment and Governance Fluency: Demonstrated ability to translate technical work into decision-ready recommendations with clear cost, risk, sequencing, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.

●        Portfolio Leadership: Demonstrated ability to set priorities across competing demands, coordinate delivery through partners, and sustain momentum through uncertainty.

●        Institutional Effectiveness: Demonstrated ability to build trust across a decentralized campus, navigate governance environments, and drive alignment without relying on formal authority.

●        Management and Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead and manage a team, while also demonstrating leadership among peers.

How to Apply

Apply through the University of Michigan Careers portal with a resume and cover letter outlining your interest and relevant experience. For questions about the search process, contact U-M Talent Acquisition at talent.acquisition@umich.edu. Nominations are welcome and will be held in strict confidence.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.