This academic year David Greene will assume the position of vice president of Strategic Initiatives, a role University President Robert Zimmer created in order to refine and clarify the University’s plans over time.

Zimmer anticipates “a number of strategically defined initiatives that will of necessity involve multiple academic and administrative units and reflect an ambitious agenda for the University.”

Greene will focus on orchestrating the execution of this agenda. For example, he plans on helping University staff and administrators realize their ideas and goals, both within specific departments and throughout the University as a whole.

Greene said he hopes to be a guide and advocate to members of the University’s administrative hierarchy, helping them “to translate their good ideas into programs.”

Greene served as vice president of Campus Life and Student Services at Brown University. Zimmer, formerly provost at Brown, described Greene’s “intelligence, experience and skills” as what made him “perfectly suited” to the new position.

Greene also spoke highly of Zimmer, predicting that he will make an “extraordinary president,” and citing Zimmer’s presence as an incentive in itself to join the University’s community. “I have a good sense of how effective President Zimmer can be…[he] is very ambitious,” Greene said.

Greene called his new job at the University a “great thrill” and described the University as “a distinctive and special place in the landscape of higher education.”

Greene’s career has been marked by numerous high-ranking administrative positions, both at Brown and Smith College. He received a B.A. in history from Hamilton College as well as, from Harvard, a masters in human development and psychology and a combined masters and doctorate in administration, planning, and social policy.