Shawn Norman had been with ISU less than a year
Less than a year into his job as Iowa State University’s senior vice president for operations and finance — which he started Jan. 1 following a national search — Shawn Norman has resigned under opaque circumstances, receiving a $124,00 “separation payment” on his way out.
That payment must be made between Dec. 31 and Jan. 15, according to a “mutually agreed separation agreement and release” signed Tuesday by Norman and ISU President Wendy Wintersteen, Board of Regents Executive Mark Braun and Deputy Attorney General Stan Thompson.
The official end to his ISU employment was Dec. 1, according to the agreement.
As part of the deal, Norman agreed not to sue ISU or any of its officers, and ISU admitted no wrongdoing.
Before releasing the settlement revealing Norman’s surprise resignation, ISU had removed Norman from its Division of Operations and Finance web page and replaced him with Interim Senior Vice President for Operations and Finance Heather Paris — who presented in his place at November’s regents meeting.
ISU officials have not shared publicly details of Norman’s resignation, including why he left or whether he was forced out. He earned a salary of $383,800 in the 2023 budget year, according to state records.
He came to ISU from the University of Nevada-Reno, where he served as associate vice president for planning, budget and analysis. Norman had been at Nevada since 2018, and at the University of Texas Medical Branch from 2003 to 2018.
From 2007 to 2018, he served as UT’s director of finance and administration for the Academic Enterprise & Faculty Group Practice — overseeing administrative, budgetary and strategic planning operations for the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, faculty group practice and all other academic functions.
He was the UT Medical Branch’s Hospitals and Clinics senior financial analyst for three years before that — putting him there 15 years before he spent five years with Nevada. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Boise State University.
Upon his hire at ISU, Wintersteen said his “strong set of credentials and experience at a public land-grant university make him well equipped for this important leadership role.
“I’m confident Shawn will be a strong leader for this division and the dedicated staff who support the financial health and daily operations of ISU as a leading research and land-grant university.”
In his ISU post, Norman reported directly to Wintersteen and oversaw five units: budget, institutional financial strategy and treasury; facilities planning and management; finance services; payroll, benefits and tax; and specialty business services and cultural arts.
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
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