UC Systemwide Procurement (SWP) congratulates Deanna Geddie on her retirement from the University of California, effective July 1, 2024. We are very happy for her as she begins an enriching new life chapter beyond work, but she will be very much missed by her UC colleagues. We have greatly appreciated Deanna’s friendly and fun management style, her ability to bring order to complex situations, and her deep knowledge of the UC landscape. She will be a hard act to follow!
Deanna joined SWP as Chief of Staff & Executive Director of the Program Management Office (PMO) in 2022. She has been responsible for the development and delivery of our organization’s strategic planning, systemwide programs and initiatives, and business operations oversight.
Under her leadership, the SWP PMO has led best practice development, process improvement, financial and operational planning, and the implementation of the Integrated Project Management (IPM) model – an approach for the staged delivery of Continuous Improvement projects with clearly defined parameters, delivery schedules and outcomes. She has also led strategic communications, change management efforts, and organizational development initiatives including the “Big Shifts”– which encompass broad changes in culture and ways of working as part of a five-year strategic vision geared toward 2028.
Deanna is a seasoned leader with over 30 years of experience leading change, teams, operations, and strategic initiatives in higher education and nonprofit organizations, and an established a track record as an approachable and effective strategic advisor with more than 18 years of service at UC.
Before her tenure at SWP, she spent eight years as a Senior Strategic Advisor in the UC Office of the President (UCOP) Strategy and Program Management Office (SPMO) where she led division-level strategic planning and organizational restructuring; systemwide emergent response teams including the COVID-19 pandemic; UC initiatives including New UC Chancellor Orientations, UC Council of Chancellors’ Annual Retreats and UC’s 2019 hosting of National College Signing Day with FLOTUS Michelle Obama and 10,000 California high school seniors; UC optimization efforts from streamlining Regent item processing to Presidential decision making; and building the Global Food Initiative under former UC President Janet Napolitano.
Deanna first joined UC in 2002 as a Grants Management Team Leader for the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies and AIDS Research Institute at UC San Francisco (UCSF) and moved into the role of Interim Division Administrator/Deputy Director. She also served as Department Manager in the UCSF Department of Anatomy, and as Change Management Lead in the UCSF Program Management Office.
Prior to her work at UC, Deanna spent more than a decade leading programs and teams at the Texas A&M University System and within northern California community-focused organizations, including the Bay Area Economic Forum, Bay Area Council, and Chabot Space & Science Center.
As she enters this rewarding new phase, please join us in wishing Deanna the very best for a relaxing and refreshing retirement and more time for family adventures and pursuing her love of cooking, traveling and exploring new interests.