Dear LMU Colleagues:
With equal parts admiration and gratitude, I share bittersweet news: Rebecca Chandler, our vice president for Human Resources since April 2004, has decided to retire from LMU in summer 2023. VP Chandler has written the book for how LMU approaches human resources issues, so it is difficult to imagine an LMU without her daily presence, leadership, and care.
Exemplifying our mission and vision, VP Chandler has transformed our organization, helping make LMU stand out among the best employers in Los Angeles. During her tenure, VP Chandler channeled her expertise, values, and sense of cura personalis to ensure that LMU served the greater good of our employees. Those who worked closely with VP Chandler know that she always connected how we support our faculty and staff with how we ultimately serve our students and provide our distinctive educational experience. This orientation pervaded how she approached recruitment, talent development, employee relations, retention, benefits, and her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
VP Chandler joined LMU from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and brought with her an extensive background in employee relations and employment litigation; policy development; compensation and benefits; HRIS experience with both ERP and cloud-hosted systems; labor relations including union negotiations, NLRB hearings, and union campaigns; served as EEO Officer; and organizational development.
For nearly two decades, VP Chandler has guided Human Resources and the university through an era of continuous growth, guiding our employees to do their best work by connecting, developing, and caring for our community members. Among her signature accomplishments, VP Chandler:
- expanded and enhanced the university’s comprehensive benefits offerings, assuring best quality while containing costs and ensuring that faculty, staff, and our families always remained well supported;
- led the comprehensive assessment of LMU’s Defined Contribution Retirement Plan resulting in our seamless transition to Transamerica as our provider;
- advocated consistently and effectively for faculty and staff through extensive wellness programming, flexible work schedules, and generous leave policies;
- sponsored the successful adoption of Workday, the largest and most comprehensive technology implementation at the university since 1998, requiring two years of planning followed by an 18-month rollout;
- led multifaceted reorganization/integration initiatives, bringing the human resource services and functions for faculty on the Westchester Campus and for faculty and staff at LMU Loyola Law School under one umbrella organization that now serves all employees;
- managed, navigated, and adapted our HR offerings through the pandemic to address the many disruptions, realignments, and accommodations necessary to ensure LMU remained on solid footing through unprecedented times.
Complementing her official responsibilities, VP Chandler has served on and led many committees, earning her reputation as an esteemed leader with exemplary business savvy. She has counseled and coached countless colleagues, helping to sustain and elevate a values-driven, high-performance culture.
I will soon convene an advisory committee chaired by John Parrish, chief of staff and vice president for institutional strategy, to conduct a national search for our next vice president for Human Resources. In preparation for this transition, I have asked VP Chandler, with the support of an external partner, to lead a comprehensive assessment of Human Resources with the goal, and in the spirit of magis, of helping her successor identify opportunities to serve our university even more effectively.
I’d like to offer a personal reflection: one of the attributes that I have most admired and valued is Rebecca’s bravery. Her strong sense of right and wrong, intimately linked to her devotion to LMU’s faculty and staff, often led to difficult conversations. Yet, Rebecca never backed away from doing what she knew to be right for the university and its employees. I always benefited from working through issues with Rebecca. Her level of fortitude is rare.
Because of her tireless dedication to our community, I know VP Chandler approached her retirement decision after careful consideration. I support her pursuit of life’s next chapter, which includes spending more time with her family and grandchild.
Please join me in congratulating and thanking Rebecca for her service to our community.
With gratitude,
Lynne B. Scarboro
Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Vice President for Human Resources Search Committee
- John Parrish, Chair, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Institutional Strategy
- Chelsea Brown, Associate Director of Student Engagement
- Marne Campbell, Associate Professor and Chair of African American Studies
- Maribel Martin Del Campo, Vice President, Internal Audit
- K.J. Peters, Professor and Chair of English
- Craig Pintens, Athletic Director
- John Sebastian, Vice President for Mission and Ministry
- Tracy Stewart, Senior Director HRIS and Compensation
- Michelle Young, Dean, LMU School of Education
- Brandi Tate, ex-officio and Director, Talent Acquisition and DEI
- Trevor Wiseman, ex-officio and Associate Vice President, Administration
