Vice President for Facilities Planning and Infrastructure

University of Kentucky; Lexington (KY); On-site; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Kentucky seeks its inaugural Vice President for Facilities Planning and Infrastructure, a strategic, collaborative leader to guide campus-wide capital planning, design, and construction beyond grounds, maintenance, and custodial services.

This role oversees major initiatives, including a $3 billion hospital expansion and a Utilities P3 project, aligning infrastructure with academic, clinical, and research missions while ensuring safety, efficiency, and on-time delivery.

Job description

The University of Kentucky is seeking an innovative, strategic, and collaborative leader to serve as its inaugural Vice President for Facilities Planning and Infrastructure. The creation of this position comes at an important time for the University as it experiences significant growth and undertakes major initiatives, including a $3 billion hospital expansion and a Utilities P3 project. The Vice President will provide enterprise-level strategic leadership, operational oversight, and executive accountability for the University’s physical infrastructure portfolio, outside of the grounds, maintenance, and custodial service areas, including space planning and long-range campus development; Utilities and Energy Management; Utilities Partnerships; and Capital Project Planning, Design, and Construction.

As an integral member of the University’s leadership team, the Vice President will advance the institution’s academic, research, clinical, and service missions by developing and implementing long-range infrastructure strategies that support institutional growth, operational resilience, and responsible stewardship of resources. The Vice President will provide oversight of capital planning and delivery, major infrastructure investments, utilities, budgets, and organizational performance, ensuring that resources are strategically aligned and projects are delivered safely, efficiently, on schedule, and within budget. They will also establish effective governance, standards, and performance measures while advancing innovation, continuous improvement, and data-informed decision-making across the portfolio.

The Vice President will lead and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, and professional excellence. The position will serve as a trusted partner to University and healthcare leaders and will cultivate strong relationships with governmental agencies, utilities, developers, consultants, contractors, community partners, and other stakeholders. Working closely with enterprise partnership leaders responsible for custodial, grounds, and maintenance services, the Vice President will ensure coordinated planning and effective integration of infrastructure, capital projects, and facilities services across the University and healthcare enterprise. This leader will champion the University’s core values and strategic priorities and ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and University policies while promoting safety, integrity, and responsible stewardship.

The ideal candidate will be an accomplished leader with significant experience leading complex facilities, infrastructure, capital development, utilities, campus planning, or related operations within a large, complex university, academic medical center, or similar organization. They will bring a demonstrated record of developing and executing long-range strategies, managing significant capital investments and budgets, and translating institutional priorities into effective infrastructure and operational plans. The successful candidate will be a strategic and forward-thinking leader who balances long-term vision with disciplined execution, sound financial stewardship, and operational excellence. They will be highly collaborative and relationship-oriented, with the ability to build trust across academic, research, clinical, administrative, and external stakeholder communities. The ideal candidate will be a skilled communicator and people leader who inspires high performance, develops talent, embraces innovation and continuous improvement, and demonstrates sound judgment, integrity, accountability, and a strong commitment to service and institutional mission.

This search is being led by UK’s internal Executive Search Team. For more information about the position, please contact Mary Beth Bracken via email at [e-mail].