New Oversight for the Legacy Replacement Project

On December 14, 2017 the Trustees approved the new executive director’s request for four new executive level positions. The first position requested was a chief operations officer (COO) who will be responsible for the following major divisions:

1. Operations
2. Service and Disbursements
3. Client Services.

These positions previously reported to the deputy executive director. That leaves only the following divisions still reporting to the deputy executive director:

1. Finance
2. Communications
3. Administration
4. Training
5. Special Projects

It is obvious that the new executive director did not feel that the current deputy executive director, Karen Mazza, was capable of continuing to handle these three operational divisions.

The other three requested positions are all targeted at the Legacy Replacement Project (LRP). They are

1. Deputy Director - Administration/LRP
2. Deputy Director - Internal Audit/LRP
3. Deputy Director – Project Director for the LRP

The deputy director for administration will be responsible for procurement, contract management, and budgeting for the LRP project. The deputy director for internal audit will be responsible for quality control for the LRP project and audit oversight of all IT operations, in particular IT security. The deputy director for the LRP project will be responsible for the LRP project and will report to the executive director and the IT director.

Based on the request for and the approval of these positions, the executive director has determined that there are significant oversight issues with the LRP project. Since the winter of FY-2015 when the former executive director and the IT director introduced this project, it has stumbled along without significant improvements. The consulting firm Gartner Inc., however, has managed to collect almost $4M over the last three years, FY-2015-2017, working on this project.

NYCERS Executive Organization Chart - History

The NYCERS org chart has gotten more complicated since 2004, when I last signed off on the NYCERS org chart, more complicated but not more effective.

As of June 30, 2004:

The direct reports to the executive director were as follows:

1. Deputy Executive Director
2. Legal
3. Human Resources
4. Internal Audit.

The direct reports to the deputy executive director were as follows:

1. Finance
2. Operations
3. Membership
4. Benefit Disbursements
5. Communications & Customer Service
6. Administrative Services
7. Information Resource Management
8. Security

As of June 30, 2017:

The direct reports to the executive director were:

1. Deputy Executive Director
2. Legal
3. Human Resources
4. Internal Audit
5. Information Technology (shifted in FY-2007 when Liz Reyes became IT director)
6. Compliance
7. Security & Facilities Operations
8. Business Rules & Data
9. EEO Officers

The director reports to the deputy executive director were:

1. Finance
2. Operations
3. Service & Disbursements
4. Communications
5. Client Services
6. Administration
7. Training
8. Special Projects