Wayne W. Zolko, associate vice president for finance and business/controller of the College of Medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, will be honored for Administrative Excellence.  The award is given annually to a Penn State faculty or staff member whose performance methods and achievements exemplify administrative excellence.

Common threads from his many supporters for this award are his leadership, integrity and keen negotiation skills, especially expressed during the period of the 1997 merger and 1999 demerger with the Geisinger Health System.  Zolko played key roles on the negotiating teams of both events and his professionalism was critical to the successful completion of the process.  He is known for not only understanding the “Big Picture,” but also the “Whole Picture.”  The continuing need to apply fiscal restraints in a competitive environment has earned Zolko respect from academic, clinical and administrative colleagues at both the Medical Center and at University Park.

Since 1997, Zolko has oversight of the $116 million College of Medicine budget and controller functions, including payroll, accounts payable, research accounting and budgets.  He is responsible for all college administrative functions, including human resources, facilities administration, capital planning, legal services, student housing, the fitness center and mail services.  He is a member of the Teams Council Leadership Group for the College of Medicine and the Hershey Medical Center.  He also is serves as treasurer for the Hershey Medical Center.

Before the merger with Geisinger, he had oversight of the $458 million Medical Center operating budget and an annual capital budget of $25 million.  He was part of all strategic planning for clinical activities, including those of the faculty practice plan and the hospitals.

A 1975 cum laude graduate of Villanova University, Zolko was an audit manager for Deloitte Haskins & Sells from 1975 to 1984 specializing in higher education and healthcare.  He joined Penn State in 1984 as associate university auditor, a position he held until 1991 when he went to Hershey as associate vice president.

Among his other major accomplishments, he was instrumental in establishing a captive insurance company that has realized savings of more than $8 million for the Medical Center, negotiated a $7.2 million favorable settlement of prior year indirect costs and was honored nationally for a successful $41 million cost reduction program at Hershey.  He also has served on many University committees, including the Task Force on the Future of Benefits.