VCU news

By Mike Porter

Following a national search, Kelli Parmley has been appointed as executive director of Bridging Richmond, a collaborative regional partnership housed at VCU that focuses on ensuring student success in the Richmond region from “cradle to career.”

Parmley, who is currently VCU’s associate vice provost for planning and decision support, will begin her new role on Aug. 1. VCU Chief Information Officer Mark Willis will serve as the interim associate vice provost for planning and decision support while a national search for the new vice provost continues.

“As executive director of Bridging Richmond, Ms. Parmley will manage a governance structure that includes key local executives from multiple community and educational sectors, while ensuring action plans are developed and implemented around key priorities and strategies,” said Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., VCU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. “She will manage a core team of staff as well as encourage collaborations among programs and practitioners in the Greater Richmond Region to align their common goals.”

Parmley’s advocacy for Bridging Richmond began more than two years ago when she brought her expertise in planning and data-informed decision making to the initial formation of the Operations Leadership Team (OLT) for Bridging Richmond. She later facilitated the purpose, focus, and selection of metrics in a critical work force study completed by Chmura Economics and Analytics. She has been intimately involved, as project manager, in planning and implementation of a data system for service providers in the Richmond Promise Neighborhood (RPN). RPN is an east end, natural neighborhood that is affiliated with Bridging Richmond as a community of practice with a similar cradle-to-career emphasis.

Parmley began her VCU career in 2008 as assistant vice provost for institutional effectiveness, where she has played an integral role in ensuring the effective use of university-level data and analytic support for strategic planning and decision making. In 2010, she spearheaded the data-driven and metrics-based approach to the development of the university’s strategic plan, Quest for Distinction, and led the transformation of the former Center for Institutional Effectiveness into the new Office of Planning and Decision Support.

Prior to joining VCU, Parmley served as assistant vice president for institutional research and planning at SUNY New Paltz and as director of the Office of Budgets and Institutional Analysis at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has a background in budget analysis, having worked in the Office of Resource Planning for the SUNY Administration and for the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) in Boulder, Colo. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University's Maxwell School.

Bridging Richmond was created to prepare children for school through early childhood education, to support children inside and outside of school and to promote academic success. The partnership is also dedicated to encouraging high school graduates to enroll in and complete some form of postsecondary education and enter a career and contribute to the civic infrastructure of the region.