MADISON — University of Wisconsin System President Katharine C. Lyall today announced that with “great regret” she has accepted the resignation of Marcia W. Bromberg, UW System vice president for finance, effective December 1, 1999.

Bromberg has served as the UW System’s chief financial officer since December 1996. She has accepted a position as chief financial officer of the new Nellie Mae Foundation in Boston, which promotes the accessibility, quality, and effectiveness of education from pre-school through post-secondary levels, especially for underserved populations in the New England Region.

It is an outgrowth of the Nellie Mae Corporation, a primary and secondary marketer and backer of student loans, which was purchased by Sallie Mae, the national corporation best known for creating a secondary market for federal student loans. This transition left the Foundation with almost $400 million in assets to fulfill its mission.

President Lyall said that over the past three years Bromberg has streamlined systemwide financial accounting practices, instituted a common systems infrastructure for administrative infotechnology applications and, together with the Department of State Facilities Management, developed a forward-looking renovation and maintenance and capital planning process for the UW System.

“She has also been the System’s Y2K leader to ensure that we move into the new century without a hitch,” said President Lyall.

“The opportunity to serve as chief financial officer of the Nellie Mae Foundation is a unique opportunity to help that foundation make investments in the support of precollege programming that expands educational opportunity to all students. I very much appreciate all that Marcia has done for the UW System and our institutions and wish her the very best in her new endeavor. We hope she will carry a bit of the Wisconsin Idea with her to New England,” said President Lyall.

Although salary is confidential in the new position, Bromberg says her compensation will be comparable to CFOs of similar size foundations, and considerably above her current UW salary of $118,000.

Bromberg said she looks forward to the flexibility possible in a private, non-profit organization, and expects to take advantage of best business practices, management efficiencies, outsourcing opportunities and the latest technological support in ways that are not available to state agencies.

Lyall said she would ask the UW Board of Regents at its October meeting to authorize a search for a new vice president, with hopes of filling the position in the early part of 2000. An acting vice president for finance will be named in the interim.

Contact:

Sharyn Wisniewski
(608) 262-6448