Governance
The process and roles below are designed to support collaborative and data-driven governance. This framework defines clear decision boundaries and requirements to ensure all campus and district stakeholders are effectively engaged.
Executive Sponsor -- Chancellor Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap
Responsibilities:
- Strategic direction
- Executive sponsorship
- Major decision approvals
- Portfolio prioritization
- Board engagement
- Strategic direction
- Executive decisions
- Board communications
- Enterprise accountability
Executive Lead -- Brent Jones, Executive Advisor to the Chancellor for Enterprise Strategy & Transformation
Responsibilities:
- Overall initiative leadership
- Governance design
- Portfolio management
- Executive reporting
- Risk management
- Change management oversight
- Benefits realization oversight
- Steering Committee facilitation
Executive Steering Committee -- Chancellor's Executive Cabinet
Responsibilities:
- Enterprise prioritization
- Decision recommendations
- Executive decision support
- Resource alignment
- Risk review and management
- Progress review and Strategic oversight
- Governance
CEO Group -- Chancellor and College Presidents
Role: Primary operating sponsors
Responsibilities
- Approve priorities
- Confirm resource commitments
- Resolve cross-college issues
- Support implementation
- Champion institutional alignment
Districtwide Leadership Team (DWLT) -- Primarily college cabinets and the CEC
Responsibilities:
- Cross-functional review
- Operational alignment
- Dependency management
- Implementation coordination
- Recommendation development
- Progress updates
- Engagement
- Communications
- Feedback
- Shared ownership
Functional Working Teams -- if recommendations are approved, these teams will implement.
Responsibilities
- Analysis
- Recommendations
- Design
- Pilot implementation
Seattle College Community -- Internal and external stakeholders.
Board of Trustees -- Champions of the work.
This framework clarifies institutional decision rights by defining who executes the work, who holds final authority, and who must be engaged throughout the governance process.
Responsible (R)
- Working Teams: responsible for data analysis and drafting decision package recommendations.
Accountable (A)
- Chancellor: Holds ultimate decision-making authority and final approval sign-off for all strategic packages.
- Executive Advisor: Facilitates compliance, workflow adherence, and integrity of overall governance process.
Consulted (C)
- College Cabinets/Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs): Provide institutional impact reviews and campus-specific feedback.
- Districtwide Leadership Team (DLT): Conducts cross-functional enterprise reviews to ensure system-wide alignment.
- Chancellor's Executive Cabinet (CEC): Evaluates portfolio prioritization and provides formal recommendations, prioritization and endorsements.
Informed (I)
- Seattle Colleges Community: kept updated on approved changes, project progress, and institutional impacts.
- Board of Trustees: Receive formal updates and final briefings on strategic outcomes and cabinet recommendations.
To maintain organizational momentum and transparent oversight, decision-making authority and issue resolutions are distributed across four distinct institutional tiers:
- Operational issues resolved at sponsor level
- Cross-college issues resolved through Districtwide Leadership Team
- Enterprise tradeoffs reviewed by Cabinet (CEC)
- Strategic direction and major organizational decisions reserved for Chancellor
Recommendations are evaluated, governed, and approved through the following process.
- Develop Recommendations: Working Teams prepare recommendations and decision packages.
- Assess Local Impacts: College President Cabinets and Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs) evaluate impacts at the campus level.
- Conduct Enterprise Review: The Districtwide Leadership Team aligns cross-college interests and conducts a district-level/enterprise review.
- Executive Check: The Chancellor's Cabinet serves as Executive Steering Committee responsible for strategic oversight, prioritization, financial stewardship, risk review, implementation readiness, and endorsement of recommendations.
- Final Approval: The chancellor makes the final decision.
The elements below are required in each decision-making package.
- Executive Summary: High-level overview of the proposal.
- Problem Statement: The core issue or opportunity being addressed.
- Current-State Assessment: The existing baseline situation.
- Options Analysis: Evaluated alternatives and choices.
- Stakeholder Feedback: Perspectives and inputs from key groups.
- Organizational Impact Assessment: How this affects people, processes, and systems.
- Financial Analysis: Budget, ROI, and cost breakdowns.
- Governance & Decision Rights: Accountability and approval structures.
- Risk Assessment: Potential risks and mitigation strategies.
- Implementation Readiness: Timeline, resources, and phased deployment plans.
- Success Measures: KPIs and metrics to track outcomes.