Many high-profile executives — individuals who have influence over multi-billion dollar corporations — hold high-stakes meetings throughout the day and are often unapproachable by those who don’t work directly with them.

And while the University’s executive vice president and chief financial officer could easily fit into this category — having wide-ranging responsibility for a $5.2 billion enterprise — Timothy Slottow couldn’t be more of an exception.

There’s something different about Slottow, something that makes it almost impossible to believe he is one of the most powerful leaders at a corporation as large as the University, unless you see his business card. From the second he shakes your hand and greets you with a hometown smile, he seems too down to earth for someone in his position.

But then again, that’s not a bad thing. Not at all.

Whether Slottow’s balanced personality is the result of his upbringing, diverse work history or family that keeps him well grounded, having someone of his caliber and character in one of the top posts at the University is one way to ensure the institution’s success.

'We Make Blue Go'

With Slottow’s title as executive vice president and CFO, it’s easy to think of him as the University’s top accountant. And while that may be true for Slottow’s role as CFO, being one of three executive vice presidents at the University means his responsibility is much more far-reaching.

Slottow’s fellow executive vice presidents are Philip Hanlon, the University’s provost who oversees all academic operations at the University, and Ora Pescovitz, the executive vice president of medical affairs who is in charge of the University of Michigan Health System and other medical enterprises at the University like the Medical School. Slottow is in charge of everything else.

Collectively, Slottow’s areas of responsibility are commonly called business and finance. This includes thousands of University employees who help to support the work conducted by the University faculty and students in the medical and academic spheres.

Without the business and finance group, campus would look dramatically different. Computer labs would not exist, and no University employee would have a computer at his or her desk. But that wouldn’t matter, since buildings wouldn’t be powered or cleaned, and employees wouldn’t be paid for their work. That’s because the University’s business and finance division handles essentially all non-academic and non-medical tasks at the University, including building construction and maintenance, information technology services, investment management and human resources operations.

The ‘typical’ day

Asked to describe his typical day at work, Slottow simply replies, “There is not a typical day. It just doesn’t exist.”

There’s no such thing as a normal day for Slottow because he’s is involved in so many aspects of the University’s operations. His attention is called in many different directions that repeating a day would be almost unfathomable. However, the structure of Slottow’s days is often very similar.

A gymnast during his time as an undergraduate student at the University of California–Berkeley, Slottow remains physically active, often waking up by 5:30 in the morning so he has time to hit the gym before heading to the office.

But once Slottow reaches his office on the third floor of the Fleming Administration Building, his day disappears quickly.

Often scheduled with back-to-back meetings for the entire day, Slottow’s schedule doesn’t leave much time for working on tasks he must complete on his own — including reviewing financial statements and reports and responding to e-mails.

To help him focus on some of his more complex tasks, Slottow says he sometimes delays arriving to the office in the morning, instead opting to escape to a local coffee shop to avoid the inevitable distractions that can arise at his office.