Feinberg Faculty and Regulatory Affairs Welcomes New Senior Director

Feinberg Faculty and Regulatory Affairs recently named Joan Trimuel Williams as the new senior director.

Joan Trimuel Williams has been named Feinberg’s senior director for Faculty and Regulatory Affairs.

Williams has a long history of service to both Northwestern and Feinberg and was previously part of Audit and Advisory Services and Financial Operations.

Read a Q&A with Williams below.

You’ve been with Northwestern for a while – tell us a little about your career background and what brought you to Feinberg. Why Northwestern?

I began my career in consulting working as an external auditor for financial institutions, gas and electricity companies, and higher education clients. Higher education was my favorite industry so when I left consulting, I specifically was looking for roles at Northwestern or the University of Chicago. I wanted to use my skills for an organization whose mission I could be aligned with. I also thought I wanted to get an MBA, at a discount, of course.

I was fortunate that there was an internal audit position at NU in what was then the Audit and Advisory Services department. Interestingly, one of my primary schools to audit was Feinberg. While in audit, I enrolled in the MS in Higher Education program as a colleague was in the program and raved about it. This experience was extremely valuable as it provided the broader perspective on higher ed and myself that I needed at the time.

I then moved to Financial Operations where I assisted in documenting the internal controls as NU transitioned to a new financial management system. It was an ideal role as I was able to help units implement changes instead of just making recommendations.

Over time I realized I wanted a broader compliance view – not just financial compliance. This is when I enrolled in law school part-time. I thought I would have to leave NU after law school, but I was fortunate that there was a compliance position within the Office for Regulatory Affairs at Feinberg when I graduated. And the rest is history.

What are you looking forward to in your new role?

I am looking forward to continuing the spirit of innovation and collaboration that the office is known for and developing new and building on existing relationships with department leaders with the following goals in mind: supporting an amazing team; timely and accurate processing; and fair and consistent problem-solving and decision-making.

Are there any topics you hope to address or things you hope to achieve?

The FAO and ORA teams are amazing – I am hoping we can capitalize on the synergies between the units to enhance each unit’s operations, which ultimately enhances how we serve the Feinberg community.

What about this role excites you? Why were you drawn to it?

I really like being connected to a critical operational function. This is different than my previous roles, but overall, I feel good about the change and there are things that I can contribute.

How can faculty stay in touch with the Faculty Affairs Office?

Our team just launched a new resource, the Faculty Launchpad, that came out of a former LEAP cohort. The information is curated by faculty, for faculty. It’s a great site to bookmark or set as a shortcut on your phone to stay connected to events and news coming from our office.