FOA Excellence Awards Recognize Work That Makes a Big Difference
Quick Summary
- Innovation Award: Carlee Gnos designed a streamlined process for reviewing FOA’s vacancy requests that supported better staffing decisions during a constrained budget period with improved transparency and reduced administrative burden.
- FOA Moved Mountains Award: Henrique Teixeira developed the Accounting Fundamentals Series, giving staff practical accounting knowledge to use Aggie Enterprise more accurately and efficiently.
- FOA Collaboration Award: Jordon Nakada helped improve hiring practices by making information easier to access, bringing teams together and building inclusive employment pathways across campus & UC Davis Health.
At a time when FOA is being asked to do more with fewer resources, the work that matters most happens through clearer processes, better tools and stronger coordination that help people do their jobs more effectively. This year’s FOA Excellence Awards recognize staff members whose efforts increased efficiency, reduced friction and improved service for the campus and UC Davis Health.
“Changing how things are done isn’t easy,” said Clare Shinnerl, vice chancellor for Finance, Operations and Administration. “It requires thoughtful problem solving, persistence and a real understanding of how our decisions affect internal staff and stakeholders. These awards recognize people who are helping FOA work smarter, better serve our stakeholders and make the most of the resources we have.”
With a large number of nominations, the selection committee reviewed examples of work that helped FOA operate more efficiently while supporting the university. Many of the submissions highlighted improvements that saved time, increased accuracy and made complex systems easier to navigate.
Building workforce approvals into a new, smart system
Carlee Gnos, FOA’s associate HR business partner, is the recipient of the FOA Innovation Award.
For Gnos, efficiency meant creating clarity during a period of constrained budgets. When the UC hiring freeze resulted in new workforce management requirements, FOA needed a consistent way to review vacancy requests without slowing down the critical work of hiring. Gnos designed a streamlined process with a Smartsheet automation that improved data accuracy, reduced administrative back-and-forth and gave leaders real-time visibility into requests.
“She created a transparent, efficient and user-friendly system,” said Nancy Hernandez, FOA’s HR Director. “It removed bottlenecks, standardized information and helped leadership make informed staffing decisions.”
The process not only improved FOA operations but also helped inform a broader campus approach — demonstrating how well-designed systems can reduce workload while improving outcomes.
Leveling up staff knowledge of accounting concepts
Henrique Teixeira is receiving the FOA Moved Mountains Award for his work as the change, communications and training manager for Aggie Enterprise in the Office of Business Transformation.
For Teixeira, impact came through practical learning. As UC Davis transitioned to Aggie Enterprise, many staff members were expected to work with complex financial systems without formal accounting training. Teixeira helped develop the Accounting Fundamentals Series to make that work more understandable and accurate.
“The series fills a long-standing campus need,” said Erica Aichwalder, director of the Office of Business Transformation. “It introduces complex accounting concepts in a clear, UC Davis-specific way and helps staff connect them to their day-to-day work.”
By improving fundamental accounting knowledge, the training has helped reduce errors, improve data quality and save time across units. Recorded sessions and reusable materials now provide a lasting resource that supports onboarding and continuous learning.
Bringing teams together to improve hiring
Jordon Nakada is the recipient of the FOA Collaboration Award, as an analyst on the Strategic Talent Acquisition team in Human Resources.
For Nakada, efficiency meant helping teams work together instead of in parallel. His work focused on improving access to hiring information, bringing hiring managers together to learn from one another and building new employment pathways through cross-university and community partnerships.
"He serves as connective tissue,” said Dreya Yin, the HR colleague who nominated Nakada for the award. “By helping our team coordinate across departments and partners, he helped bridge gaps in the hiring process by sharing information on equitable practices, data and the candidate experience, which reinforced that hiring is a collective effort rather than siloed work.”
Those efforts led to more consistent hiring practices, increased confidence among hiring managers and measurable progress on local hiring — while fostering collaboration and shared learning across teams.
Awards highlight that efficiency is not ‘cutting corners’
Together, this year’s award recipients reflect a shared focus on stewardship: improving how work gets done so FOA can better support the campus and UC Davis Health, even under constraints.
“I’m proud of how our staff continue to show up for this work,” Shinnerl said. “These examples remind us that efficiency isn’t about cutting corners — it’s about designing better systems, supporting one another and delivering the best service we can with the resources we have.”
She also thanked all who submitted nominations and served on the selection committee. The breadth and quality of this year’s submissions reflect care, effort and creativity that FOA staff members bring to their work every day — often behind the scenes and always in service to the UC Davis community.
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