Chancellor Dirks Announces Vice Chancellor, Real Estate

December 17, 2013

Dear Campus Colleagues:

Today I am announcing an important appointment to the campus’s leadership group and a related change in our organizational structure. These actions are in response to the new opportunities and challenges we face when it comes to planning, financing, constructing and maintaining our buildings and facilities.

When I announced last summer that Ed Denton, our Vice-Chancellor, Facilities Services, would be retiring after more than 15 years of extraordinary service to the campus, I also made clear my intention to use the transition as a time to assess our administration and operations in this area. After a careful review that included an examination of how the campus manages its real estate assets, I have decided that we must support the university’s mission and our future needs with a fully integrated approach to real estate and the planning, building and operations of our facilities on and off campus.  

To support that goal we have decided to redefine the position as Vice Chancellor, Real Estate, reporting to the Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance. This change recognizes the fact that in the context of the new financing reality that we confront for capital projects, the university must increasingly rely on alternative and innovative financial approaches. This mandates that financial expertise and experience be brought to bear during the early stages of every project. Given the extent to which so many of our academic aspirations are tied to our ability to expand and adapt our infrastructure in the years ahead, I plan to work closely with this cabinet-level position as we re-envision a more comprehensive approach to the management of campus real estate, including student housing, athletics facilities and the Richmond Bay Campus.

In light of the unique requirements of this position, I am delighted to announce that Bob Lalanne, a Berkeley alumnus and award-winning builder and real estate developer, has agreed to serve the university in this new role. Bob, founder of the Lalanne Group, will bring to the campus 25 years’ worth of relevant experience gained as a leader of a large number of successful commercial, residential and mixed-use projects throughout the Bay Area. As a current member of the Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees and chair of our foundation’s Real Estate Task Force, he has been instrumental in assisting the campus over the past two years with a number of real estate issues. Throughout his work on these bodies, as well as committees connected with the College of Environmental Design and the Haas School of Business, Bob has shown a consistent commitment to collaboration and constructive engagement with project stakeholders, including faculty, students, deans, campus leadership and alumni.

In my conversations with Bob I have been very impressed not just by his professional knowledge and creative thinking, but also by how deeply his ideas and goals are informed by and consistent with our public mission and ethos.  In fact, while we have yet to finalize the compensation details for this position, Bob has already committed to donate his salary back to the campus. Bob will be supported in this new role by the competent team of staff and leaders in the current Facilities Services operation who serve the campus in the areas of facilities maintenance, planning, construction management and real estate projects.

Please join me in welcoming Bob Lalanne to this new role.

Best regards, 

Nicholas B. Dirks
Chancellor