Shantay N. Bolton, executive vice chancellor for administration and chief administrative officer at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named executive vice president for administration and finance and chief business officer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, announced Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.
Her last day at the university will be Aug. 2.
Bolton, a St. Louis native, came to WashU in July 2021 from Tulane University, where she was vice president and deputy chief operating officer.
Since joining WashU as the key point person for university operations, Bolton has helped spearhead effective strategies in administration, including the areas of information technology, human resources, public safety, procurement, supplier diversity and Danforth Campus operations and facilities.
“I’m grateful to Shantay for her many contributions to WashU,” Martin said. “She has brought great energy and determination to her work, and has made a lasting impression on the university during her relatively short time here. We’re a better place for having had her here. I thank her for her service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors, at Georgia Tech and beyond.”
Among the achievements during her tenure were the establishment of the Institute for Leadership Excellence, which will provide immersive professional development opportunities for employees across WashU; and the university joining the St. Louis Anchor Action Network, a newly formed coalition of local organizations designed to reduce racial, economic and spatial inequities in the St. Louis region.
Other notable operational strategic accomplishments include acquiring electric shuttles for the university’s Danforth Campus fleet; transforming the dining program with local minority-owned businesses; and enhancing the retirement benefit to better attract and retain faculty and staff.
She also oversaw the hiring of the new vice chancellor for human resources and institutional equity; the vice chancellor for technology and chief information officer; the assistant vice chancellor and university architect for facilities planning and management; the assistant vice chancellor for environmental health and safety; the assistant vice chancellor for university services; and the chief of the Washington University Police Department.
Bolton has been an active member of the St. Louis community, serving as a founding donor and advisory board member of the Women’s Giving Collective for Easterseals Midwest; an officer on the University City Children’s Center board of directors; a resident commissioner on the city of Clayton’s Community Equity Commission; and on Clayton’s municipal judge selection process panel. In January, she was named to the 2023 St. Louis Titan 100, a program that recognizes 100 top corporate leaders from the public and private sector in the St. Louis area who “demonstrate exceptional leadership, vision and passion.”
In April 2022, the AGB Institute for Leadership & Governance in Higher Education selected Bolton for its Class of 2023 Cohort 4. She joined 24 other participants from institutions around the country in a six-month program designed for individuals who aspire to presidencies at four-year public research universities and regional comprehensive institutions.
“It is because of the remarkable staff and their extraordinary commitment to the university mission that the administration has made wonderful strides in operational excellence over the last two years,” Bolton said. “And I am forever changed by the incredible opportunity to work with and lead phenomenal teams during a time of extraordinary change for WashU.”
Martin will oversee a search for Bolton’s successor.
