Leadership Members
Chair
Amy Ruth
UCI
Director of Finance
School of Nursing
Amy Ruth is a highly accomplished professional with over 20 years of experience in academic administration and financial management. Currently serving as the Systemwide Chair of Administrative Management Professionals (AMP), she demonstrates expertise and dedication to the advancement of administrative staff and practices in higher education. Amy’s leadership at UC Irvine is defined by exceptional leadership, financial acumen, and a commitment to excellence. In her current role as the Director of Finance at the UCI School of Nursing, she oversees financial operations and strategies while ensuring efficient resource allocation and financial stability where she has made a significant impact using her extensive experience in managing budgets and implementing efficient financial systems. Amy enjoys active participation in working groups and committees and advocating for and empowering her colleagues at UCI and across the University of California system. Her dedication to professional development and passion for fostering collaboration make her an invaluable asset to the AMP organization and the broader administrative management community.
Chair-Elect
Jeanne Durrant
UCSF
Administrative Director
Ambulatory Affiliated Programs at UCSF Health
Jeanne Durrant is a dynamic professional who currently serves as an Administrative Director at UCSF Health’s Affiliate Network. With her exceptional leadership skills and extensive experience, she plays a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of UCSF Health’s administrative functions. With her dedication to UCSFs mission of advancing health worldwide, Jeanne plays an important role in ensuring the university’s administrative infrastructure supports its cutting edge research, exceptional patient care, and transformational education. Her strategic mindset, leadership acumen, and commitment to fostering collaboration maker her an invaluable member of the UCSF community.
Treasurer
Yvette Obando
UCSD
Chief Administrative Officer
Structural Engineering Department
Yvette is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Department of Structural Engineering at UC San Diego. With 22 years of experience working at UCSD, Yvette brings a plenitude of knowledge in finance, contract and grants with a focus on academic administration and departmental management. Yvette has been collaborating with UC AMP for 6 years as Treasurer and enjoys being part of a UC System-Wide committee. Yvette graduated from UC, Los Angeles, with a Bachelor Degree in Psychology, and recently earned her MA in Organizational Management from the University of Arizona.
Historian
Angie Marinello
UCSF
Operations Manager
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Secretary
Aaron McPherson
UCSC
Senior Department Manager
Baskin School of Engineering
Originally from Virginia, Aaron began his career at UC Santa Cruz in 2017 as a Career Coach at the Career Center. Since then, Aaron has worked as the Health Science Internship Coordinator for the Human Biology program and is currently the Department Manager for both the Applied Math and Statistics departments in the Baskin School of Engineering.
Aaron lives in Santa Cruz with his husband, Evan, and their Boxer Basset Hound, Arlo.
Committee Members
Angela Chang
UCB
Director of Finance
School of Information
Angela has worked in product development and marketing in Silicon Valley after graduating from UC Berkeley. She has worked at UC Berkeley for the past 19 years and is currently the Director of Finance at the School of Information.
Sandra Richmond
UCB
Director of Administration, AGES
Social Science Cluster
Sandy Benjamin Richmond is the Director of Administration in the departments of African American Studies, Gender & Women’s Studies, and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.
Jamie Brannan
UCD
Chief Administrative Officer
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Katrina Spridgen
UCD
Chief Administrative Officer
Center for Neuroscience
Amy Ricks
UCI
Chief Administrative Officer
Materials Science and Engineering
Amy has over 15 years of UC experience and currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine where she is responsible for the oversight of strategic initiatives, administrative operations, and management of department financial, personnel, student affairs, teaching, and research support infrastructure operations. Amy received her undergraduate degree in three departments (English, Comparative Literature, Psychology) at San Diego State University and more recently, her Master of Education degree with a specialization in Leadership in Higher Education from Northcentral University. She is proud to be an advocate, advisor, mentor, ally, analyst, and leader on her campus and is known for her integrity, ability to effectively teach and lead, facilitation and problem-solving abilities, and general operations management both large and small scale. Amy strongly believes in care, consideration, accountability, and diversity in society and the Institution. She looks forward to bringing a strong force of positivity, energy, and process improvement to AMP as well as working to help empower systemwide leaders (including work leaders and those aspiring to be) to channel and develop their best selves, and form collaborative relationships as we navigate through challenges together in the UC, in service of our communities, academics, staff, and each other.
Bessy Varela
UCI
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B)
Department Administrator
Bessy J. Varela is the Department Manager for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, in the School of Biological Sciences at UC Irvine. Bessy has been a UC employee for over 25 years. She received her Bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara, and it was there that she also started her UC career as an Administrative Assistant. She has been at UC Irvine since 1999 and has worked in various administrative roles.
Patty Johnson
UCLA
Sr. Manager of Academic Services & Operations
Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson-MBA Student Affairs
Patty serves as the Sr. Manager of Academic Services & Operations for the Full Time MBA Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Patty has worked at Anderson for over 20 years in various capacities. In her current role, Patty works primarily with faculty and administration on academic planning and scheduling. Patty is a first-gen college student, she graduated from UCLA in 1999 with a degree in Psychology and a specialization in Business Administration. She is a graduate of the Riordan Scholars Program (’02) and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from CSUN (’18). Patty is passionate about personal and professional growth and when she is not spending time with her husband and three young children, she is reading or taking online classes to learn new skills. She is excited to help bring her knowledge and ideas for programming to AMG and build upon the current offerings.
Gina Romero
UCLA
Training & Organizational Development Manager
Gina Romero joined UCLA’s Events & Transportation department in 2019 as the Manager of Training & Organizational Development. Gina holds a Master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication from California State University, Los Angeles. Before becoming a Bruin, Gina had spent her career in the private sector doing talent development, performance management, organizational development, and coaching and training for organizations of varying sizes.
Before joining the AMG Board, Gina served for two years in the role of Vice President of Records and Archives for Staff Assembly on campus. Gina says that the two things she is most looking forward to as a new member of AMG is helping to further the mission of AMG and provide all stakeholders with valuable support and resources to help them become the leaders they aspire to be. Outside of campus, Gina lives in the San Fernando Valley with her husband and son and their fur baby, Lily. She loves to garden, cook, and host gatherings at home.
Juana Dumagan-Garcia
UCM
Management Services Officer
Office of Undergraduate Education
Tomiko Hale
UCM
Leann Nascimento
UCM
HSRI Business Manager/Grants Manager
Office of Research and Economic Development
Michael Daniel Austin, Chair Emeritus
UCR
Financial Administrative Officer
Art, History of Art
Michael Austin is currently the Financial and Administrative officer at UC Riverside for the departments of Comparative Literature and Languages & Hispanic Studies. He’s been part of the UC system for 17 years. On his off time he enjoy dangerous amounts of coffee and playing games online with his friends all over the country.
Grace C. Caslavka
UCR
Financial & Administrative Officer
Computer Science & Engineering
Melissa Gomez
UCR
Financial and Administrative Officer
Department of Mathematics
Miko Thomas
UCSF
Financial Services Analyst
Finance & Administrative Services Finance Service Center
TBD
UCSB
Ceci Ozkan
UCSD
Chief Administrative Officer
Department of Ethnic Studies
As the Chief Administrative Officer of the Department of Ethnic Studies, Cecilia manages departmental administrative functions including finance and budget, faculty recruitment, human resources, facilities, and staff supervision. Cecilia is also the contact for all academic personnel tasks such as advancement, compensation, benefits, leaves of absence, and policies and procedures.
Cecilia has worked at UC San Diego for over 15 years, in various departments ranging from the Department of Psychiatry, Biological Sciences, Music, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO), in the Dean’s office. She is a UC San Diego alumni with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Minor in Spanish Literature and a Master of Business Administration, from National University.
Evin Knight
UCSC
Director of Operations
Institute for Social Transformation
Social Sciences Division
Chris Cabrera Thompson
UCLA
Chris is currently the IT Manager at the UCLA Department of English. Chris provides technology support for faculty, staff, students in the Department of English and Writing Programs.