FAS Workforce Planning: Announcing Our New Managing Directors

Dear colleagues,

As the FAS moves forward with our transition to the new administrative model, one of our priorities is to ensure that we have key leaders in place to help guide us. I am writing today to introduce three colleagues who will play a critical role in how we implement and sustain our new model as Managing Directors of Department and Center Administration.

These individuals come from within the FAS, bringing deep institutional knowledge, earned credibility with colleagues from across our community, and a genuine understanding of what it takes to support our teaching and research mission at the Department and Center level. Each of them contributed directly to the design of the model they are now being asked to help lead:

Rebecca “Becky” Chetham, Managing Director, Sciences
Becky has spent more than 35 years as part of the FAS community. Since 2006, she has served as Executive Director and Chief Administrative and Financial Officer for the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Harvard University Herbaria, overseeing administrative, financial, and research operations across an academic department and two museums with more than 300 faculty, researchers, students, and staff. Becky brings expertise in financial management, research administration, human resources, and change management in a complex environment to her new role. Her long tenure with the FAS gives her an unparalleled understanding of how this community works. Becky has contributed her perspectives to the broader planning process both informally and as a member of the FAS Workforce Planning Staff Advisory Group.

Damari Rosado, Managing Director, Social Sciences
During her nearly 30 years at Harvard, Damari has developed extensive experience across central administration, research centers, professional education, and academic departments, giving her a broad institutional perspective on supporting teaching, research, and administrative operations. Since 2018, she has served as Executive Director of the Department of Economics, leading a team of more than 30 staff supporting 600 faculty, researchers, students, and visitors across finance, human resources, IT, research administration, and academic programs. She has also led organizational design efforts within the Department, improving workflows and service delivery while partnering closely with faculty leadership on strategic initiatives. In addition, Damari played an active role in the Workforce Planning design process.

Emily Warshaw, Managing Director, Arts and Humanities
Emily has served as Director of Administration in Theater, Dance and Media for over a decade, building deep collaborative relationships across the FAS and the broader university. She leads a team of 13 staff and manages the full scope of program operations, including financial planning, human resources, curriculum support, faculty recruitment, facilities, and events. In addition, Emily brings direct experience with the work of designing our new model, having served on the FAS Workforce Planning Staff Advisory Group. She was also on the Arts and Humanities Strategic Planning Committee, where she contributed recommendations for improving divisional administrative processes.

As you know, the FAS has been working for over a year to design an administrative model that is more coordinated, consistent, and closely aligned with our teaching and research mission. This work has been driven by real and significant pressures: a structural deficit that limits our ability to invest in our academic priorities, an organization that has grown increasingly fragmented and difficult to navigate, and a recognition that our staff deserve clearer pathways, better tools, and stronger support. The new model is designed to address these challenges, and the Managing Directors will help ensure that the new structure meets the needs of faculty, staff, and students.

Their primary role is to lead, develop, and support our Department Administrators and Executive Directors, the people who are closest to the day-to-day work of running our academic Departments and Centers. They will serve as the direct escalation point when systems or processes are not working, will be at the table when administrative decisions are being made, and will work to build stronger connections across our community, sharing best practices and solving common problems together.

These three appointments are a signal of the progress we are making and our commitment to implementing the new model with people who know the FAS community well. Please join me in welcoming Becky, Damari, and Emily to their new roles and offering your support as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Warren Petrofsky
Dean for Administration and Finance