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Senior Executive Assistant to the Executive Director

  • 494382
  • Oklahoma City
  • Administrative Support
  • College of Medicine
  • S10

Pay Range: Commensurate based on education and experience

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Work Schedule: The role is on-site at HHDC in Oklahoma City, with occasional early-morning, evening, or weekend work around events, visits, and deadlines. Limited travel may be required for off-site retreats or events.

Travel: May be required

Position Introduction:

The Senior Executive Assistant provides high-level administrative support to the Executive Director of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center (HHDC) and Vice Provost for Diabetes Programs. The role manages the Executive Director's calendar, correspondence, workstreams, and meetings, and ensures smooth coordination among the Executive Director's office, the Center, the Provost's office, the College of Medicine, OU Health, and internal and external partners.

This is a new position, funded and administered by HHDC, created as the Center enters a period of major growth following a historic gift from Harold Hamm.

HHDC is entering its largest growth phase to date. With that gift, announced in September 2026, and a major University investment in support of its Strategic Plan, the Center is recruiting new investigators, building a human research platform (metabolic chambers, metabolic kitchen, and clinical research unit), and pursuing NIDDK Diabetes Research Center designation. OU's public goal is to reduce cardiovascular complications and deaths from diabetes in Oklahoma by 30% over five years.

The Executive Director's portfolio spans several concurrent workstreams. The Executive Assistant will support all of them.

  • Strategy: the HHDC Blueprint and the stakeholder engagement and planning work that build and update it.
  • Recruitment: senior clinician-scientist and leadership hires under OU's P200 program, including visits with candidates and families.
  • Institute building: a metabolic surgery and metabolic medicine institute, a mitochondrial research program opening in 2027, and a biobank.
  • University and state initiatives: the PSEDI federal initiative with NIH and NCI, annual legislative requests, and engagement with the state delegation.
  • Donor and prize stewardship: the gift milestones (the Strategic Plan, company formation, building design, laboratory build-out and new equipment, and clinic wait times) and the Harold Hamm International Prize.
  • Industry and translation: company formation, industry partnerships and clinical trials, plus international partnerships in Ireland, Europe, and the Gulf.
  • Science: an active NIH-funded research lab (IPMM), grant submissions, manuscripts, national committees, and editorial roles.

Key responsibilities

Calendar, time, and access 

  • Manage the Executive Director's calendar end to end: scheduling; prioritizing requests; protecting lab, research, and planning time each week; and resolving scheduling conflicts among HHDC, the Provost's office, the College of Medicine, and OU Health.
  • Serve as the first point of contact for the office, screening calls, email, and visitors with judgment and discretion.
  • Manage a standing schedule of one-to-ones and recurring meetings (operations, finance, lab, advisory boards, department chairs): prepare agendas, circulate materials in advance, and track actions to completion.
  • Coordinate domestic and international travel, including visas, itineraries, reimbursements, and speaking logistics, and ensure compliance with travel registry and related University policies.

Meetings and follow-through 

  • Prepare briefing packets before key meetings: agenda, attendee backgrounds, prior correspondence, and open decisions.
  • Attend selected meetings to take notes, capture decisions and action items, ensure follow-up, and track items to closure.
  • Maintain the Executive Director's action and commitments tracker, working alongside the HHDC operations lead who manages the Center's open items register.
  • Run a brief weekly priorities review with the Executive Director: what is due, commitments, and what can be delegated, deferred, or declined.

Correspondence and documents 

  • Draft, edit, and route correspondence, memos, letters of support, nomination letters, and talking points in the Executive Director's voice and in accordance with preferred style standards.
  • Manage signatures, approvals, and document routing through OU systems.
  • Maintain the Executive Director's biosketch, CV, standard bios, slide library, and signature blocks, and keep the Executive Director’s faculty activity system entries current.

Events and visits 

  • Coordinate the Executive Director's role in Center strategy work, such as stakeholder sessions and leadership retreats: scheduling, creating and gathering materials, and follow-up.
  • Manage the Executive Director's schedule and hosting role for faculty recruitment visits, including the partner and family first visit and later formal lecture visits, in coordination with HHDC operations on the itinerary.
  • Represent the Executive Director's office in planning high-profile events, including the HHDC Research Symposium, Harold Hamm International Prize activities, NIH and federal site visits, donor visits, and legislative meetings.

Office management and liaison 

  • Liaise with the offices of the President, Senior Vice President and Provost, Executive Dean, Health Campus College Deans, other University leadership, OU Health CEO, and department chairs, as well as with executive assistants at partner institutions.
  • Coordinate with HHDC business and finance, grants management, and communications on items requiring the Executive Director's input or approval.
  • Coordinate with Advancement on donor stewardship, including gift milestone reporting, the Harold Hamm International Prize, and donor events.
  • Track deadlines for grant submissions, reports, board meetings, and internal and external commitments.
  • Handle confidential personnel, recruitment, donor, and partnership matters with complete discretion.
  • Know and apply relevant University policy to the work of the Executive Director's office.

Required Education and Experience:

  • Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • 60 months of Executive Assistant, C-Suite administrative support experience or related administrative role.

Skills:

  • Proven management of a complex, high-volume calendar amid competing senior stakeholders.
  • Excellent writing and editing skills, with the ability to draft professional correspondence independently.
  • Advanced proficiency with Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) and virtual meeting platforms.
  • Sound judgment and complete discretion in confidential personnel, donor, legal, and financial matters.
  • Strong organization skills and follow-through, able to manage multiple priorities at once and keep work moving without close supervision.

Department Preferences:

  • Experience in an academic medical center, a research institute, or a university leadership office.
  • Familiarity with OU and OU Health systems, structures, and people.
  • Working knowledge of research administration: NIH grant cycles, biosketches, letters of support, and submission deadlines.
  • Experience coordinating recruitment visits, donor events, or VIP and federal site visits.
  • Experience arranging international travel and hosting international visitors.
  • A calm, warm, professional manner with everyone, from students to benefactors, and the confidence to manage up and hold people accountable to deadlines.
  • High integrity and complete discretion, strong emotional intelligence, the initiative to anticipate needs and act without being asked, high standards for finished work, and a low-ego, service-minded approach.
  • Comfort with a start-up pace and ability to be flexible: the Center is building new programs, spaces, and teams, and priorities will shift quickly.
  • Interest or experience in using AI and digital tools to work more efficiently.

Hiring Contingent Upon a Background Check: Yes

Norman Campus: If you are selected as a finalist for a position that supports the Norman Campus, you will be subject to The University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Tuberculosis Testing policy. 

Why You Belong at the University of Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma values our community's unique talents, perspectives, and experiences. At OU, we aspire to harness our innovation, creativity, and collaboration for the advancement of people everywhere. You Belong Here!

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: The University, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, gender identity/expression (consistent with applicable law), age (40 or older), religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, housing, financial aid, and educational services.

 

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