DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

BIOGRAPHY:

Serving as the Associate Director of Administration in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University, Sophie partners with the Managing Director to execute the strategic plan for the largest department at Northwestern. She oversees the areas of human resources, faculty support and administration, faculty recruiting, external relations, and appointments of staff, visiting scholars, post-doctoral fellows and research associates.

Sophie joined the Chemistry Department at Northwestern in 2011. Prior to taking on her current role, she was a Senior Program Coordinator and Associate Research Administrator for a senior faculty member with multiple appointments and managed all aspects of his research group. In 2015, she was nominated for Employee of the Year.

Throughout her career, Sophie has held leadership roles in the public and private sectors. As Administrative Services Manager for Northwestern Mutual Life’s top sales office, she handled the budgetary and operational needs of 55 insurance agents and their respective staff, provided human resource functions and managed front office personnel. Her expertise was further utilized as she conducted employment screening interviews of high level managerial and IT candidates for a management consulting firm to determine the most qualified candidates based on the Myers Briggs personality tests.

Most recently, Sophie worked in municipal government for the City of Park Ridge in the Department of Community Development, where she interacted with residents, board members and elected officials regarding building permits, issued property transfers and attended Appearance Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning and Zoning Meetings. During the economic downturn of 2008, she instituted reporting practices to better track foreclosed properties for police/safety and property maintenance issues and increased revenue due to collection of previously uncollected property transfer taxes.

She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Northeastern Illinois University and was recipient of the General Assembly Scholarship, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

Sophie is a lifelong Chicagoan who enjoys travel, decorating and photography.