Nilay Shah, Ph.D., has been appointed chief strategy officer and Traci Nordberg, J.D., appointed chief human resources officer for The University of Texas at Austin’s academic health system and its anchor, Dell Medical School.
Left to right: Nilay Shah, Ph.D., and Traci Nordberg, J.D.
As chief strategy officer, Shah will lead enterprise strategy, growth initiatives and long-term planning, with particular focus on digital health, artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities and strategic partnerships. By aligning strategy across clinical operations, research and education, Shah’s role ensures sustainable growth and expanded impact in advancing patient-centered care and academic excellence. Shah will also serve as a professor of population health and hold the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Distinguished University Chair in Value-Based Care for Dell Medical School.
As chief human resources officer, Nordberg will lead the strategy, vision and operations of the human resources function. She will guide the development of a best-in-class employee experience and build the people, systems and culture needed to support a rapidly growing organization. Her leadership will span talent acquisition, learning and development; talent and performance management; employee engagement; total rewards; and HR technology and analytics, all in service of a workforce expected to grow exponentially over the next five years.
About Nilay Shah
Before joining Dell Med, Shah built a career at the intersection of academic medicine, health system strategy and data-driven innovation. At Mayo Clinic, he served in senior leadership roles within the Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, including as its endowed research director. In addition, he was the chair for the Department of Healthcare Delivery Research at Mayo Clinic, where he helped shape enterprise strategy around learning health systems, value-based care and the use of large-scale data to improve outcomes and inform decision-making across complex organizations.
More recently, Shah has worked at Delta Air Lines focused on corporate health care strategy. In this role, he was focused on health care transformation for an employer and bringing an operator’s perspective to strategy, growth and scale. Across these roles, he is known for translating evidence into action, aligning diverse stakeholders and helping organizations move from aspiration to execution.
About Traci Nordberg
Nordberg brings deep experience leading enterprise human resources strategy and transformation in large, complex and fast-changing organizations, including academic and health care environments.
Across her career, Nordberg has led HR organizations supporting workforces ranging from a few hundred to more than 80,000 employees, aligning talent, culture and systems during periods of growth, integration and organizational change. Her experience spans the full scope of the human resources portfolio, including talent management and succession planning, total rewards, performance management, learning and leadership development, employee and labor relations, crisis management and communications, as well as digital enablement efforts such as the selection and implementation of HR technology platforms that strengthen operational effectiveness and scalability.