‘It’s a calling’

Yale’s new Senior Vice President for Operations Geoff Chatas discusses his path to Yale and how he blends a lifelong love of learning with a leadership philosophy centered on people and purpose.

Geoff Chatas joined Yale as the senior vice president for operations on November 1. From early influences in a family of educators to a dynamic career spanning finance, academia, and university leadership, Chatas brings a thoughtful, people-centered approach to the role. As he begins his journey at Yale, he emphasizes the importance of listening, learning, and engaging with staff across the university.

What do you hope to accomplish in your first 90 days at Yale?

As I get started at Yale, I hope to listen, observe and learn about the people that make Yale go. I plan to get out of my office and meet as many people as possible to learn about the different staff functions. At the University of Michigan, I drove the bus simulator, I learned how to wax the floors, and I went on a shift with our security people. I really am excited to get out and meet people as they’re working, because you can’t make decisions from an office if you don’t understand what the implications are.

What are your values and how have they guided your career?

The most important thing to me is our people. I’m always asking myself the same questions: How will this impact people? How will it impact the work they do? I also believe in collaboration and transparency. I like to share as much as I can with our team and make sure that I’m making the best decisions with as much input as possible.

I’ve always been guided by doing the ethical thing and trying to do the right thing in a thoughtful way. I don’t like to do things too quickly. I like to think about the long-term solution as well as the long-term implications.

Curiosity has also guided me. I’ve always looked at the world and asked, why? That could be a loaded question, but to me, it isn’t. I frame it as “Why do we do something a certain way” rather than “Why don’t we do it a different way?” I’m always curious about why we do things and if there are ways in which I can help staff improve what they do.

Lastly, I have always been academically focused. I come from a family of educators. My mom was a kindergarten teacher; my aunt was a special needs teacher; and my wife taught middle school. I’ve always believed in the importance of education and the way it impacts people’s lives, and I always remind myself that we’re here to educate. All of us — faculty and staff — are a piece of that. It’s a calling.

What has been your path to where you are now?

My four great grandparents emigrated from Greece to Flint, Michigan. My mom was one of five daughters, and my dad was an only child. All six of them went to the University of Michigan because my grandfathers insisted that they get an education, and almost all the women became educators. One of my aunts was a neuroscientist and discovered what the cerebellum does. The importance of education and the appreciation of it is shared among all of us.

I majored in history and economics in college. I studied abroad at the London School of Economics where I met Peter Earle, who was working on a book on the emergence of the middle class in the United Kingdom in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He invited me to be a researcher for him, so I had the chance to spend the year assisting on an article that later turned into a book. And that’s how my love affair with the world of academia began.

After graduating from Georgetown, I went back to Oxford where I did a thesis on economic history. One summer, I worked at a bank in Belgium, and that’s where I fell in love with the world of finance. After I got my MBA, I worked in New York where I met my wife, Katie. We worked in Europe, and then we moved back to Ohio, where I took a job as VP of finance for a big company.

And believe it or not, I answered a newspaper ad for a corporate finance teacher at a local university teaching adult learners in the evenings. I applied and got it, and I fell in love with teaching. Later in my career when I was working in North Carolina, I co-taught a class in real world finance at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. When my fund was well established in 2010, I joined The Ohio State University as the senior vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer. I was able to teach there as well, and I’ve been involved in higher education while continuing to teach for the last 15 years.

How do you spend your time outside of work, and what activities bring you the most joy?

I love hiking, and I’ve been going to the Grand Canyon every year for over 30 years. The outdoors is very important to me, and New England is a great part of the country for amazing hiking. I’m also a fly fisherman, which is my real Zen time. I’ve fly fished since I was a little kid. I also love to cook, and my wife and I enjoy entertaining and engaging with people. The act of cooking and sharing is really important to me.

Katie and I have been volunteer puppy raisers for Canine Companions. The dogs go on to help people with disabilities and veterans living with post-traumatic stress. We have one that didn’t quite make it through the program, and now she’s a registered therapy dog with Therapy Dogs International. She’s a yellow lab named Reiko (which means gratitude in Japanese), and Katie and I hope she gets to meet everyone soon.

I also love spending time with my kids any chance I get. They are grown, and my daughter is working on her residency in family medicine in Madison at the University of Wisconsin. Our son and his wife recently settled in New York City, so we’re excited to be just a train ride away.

Those are the big interests that help keep me balanced, and I do try to take the time to make sure I’m engaged in all of them.

What excites you about joining Yale?

Yale is one of the great universities in the world, and I’m at a point in my career where I am always thinking about what I can do to make an impact at an institution and help the president and provost further the mission.

Yale is amazing, not just because it’s 324 years old, but because it’s so good at everything it does right across the spectrum. That’s pretty unique. The more people I meet, the more the Yale story and the Yale trajectory resonate with me. It’s a hard time in higher education right now, and I knew it would be an amazing opportunity to be part of this institution that is going to remain at the forefront of higher education in this country.