Norris named to lead UW Budget Office, Wold retires

Tim Norris, a veteran campus budget analyst, has been named to succeed Larry Wold as director of the Budget Office at the UW–Madison, Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell announced Thursday, June 3. Wold is retiring after more than three decades on the Madison campus.

“Tim brings a wealth of experience in how the budget process works on campus and the technology we use to manage the budget — plus, he’s worked with budget officers across campus,” says Bazzell.

The budget office director is responsible for developing and managing the UW’s $1.8 billion annual budget and ensuring that the university complies with all state, federal and UW System budget requirements.

Duties also include making recommendations, and providing advice and assistance to the chancellor, vice chancellors and other administrators on fiscal issues.

Norris, who has served for the past 15 years as a senior policy and planning analyst in the university’s Office of Budget Planning and Analysis, begins his new duties immediately. That allows the appointments of Wold and Norris to overlap to ensure a smooth transition.

“The skills and knowledge I have developed at the university have prepared me to help guide the budget office through the particularly challenging times ahead — a future in which we face a protracted state fiscal crisis,” Norris says.

Norris says his experience has allowed him to build strong working relationships with senior management, as well as with administrators across campus and at the UW System.

Wold is completing 34 years in state government service, with 31 on the Madison campus. He has held a number of budget positions under three vice chancellors since joining the UW in 1973.

Bazzell says Wold’s fiscal wisdom will be missed.

“Larry has excellent knowledge and experience. He was the guy whose depth of understanding made the budget work for this campus,” Bazzell says.

Wold managed the budget office and the university’s finances through some difficult fiscal times. The state’s $250 million budget cut that was applied to the UW System for the 2003-05 biennium — a portion of which was replaced by revenues from higher tuition — required the university to face some difficult decisions. Both Wold and Norris were instrumental in advising the administrators who were forced to make those decisions.