Robert Kasdin began his career as a corporate attorney on Wall Street, but in subsequent jobs over the years he found he really enjoyed working in mission-driven institutions. So when the opportunity to join Johns Hopkins Medicine in the newly created role of senior vice president and chief operating officer became available, he says he had to take it.

Kasdin, who started July 1, will partner with leadership to drive organizationwide change within a rapidly evolving environment. “Academic medical centers around the country are under financial pressure because of both declining NIH funding for research and declining reimbursement rates,” he says. “The ways they find resources to support research and education are being re-thought.”

Kasdin will be responsible for overall operations, including strategic direction, administration of existing programs and development of new initiatives to ensure that Johns Hopkins Medicine achieves—or exceeds—its strategic imperatives.

He comes to Johns Hopkins from Columbia University, where he had been senior executive vice president since 2002. In that role, Kasdin supervised overall operations, finances, human resources, information technology, and development and commercialization of intellectual property. He also played an important role in Columbia’s relationships with major donors and with city and state government, and reorganized the university’s operations to integrate business processes and improved efficiency and accountability.

Before joining Columbia, Kasdin served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of the University of Michigan; treasurer and chief investment officer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; and the vice president and general counsel for Princeton University Investment Company. His first job was at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Kasdin earned his B.A. from Princeton and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a board member of the Harbor Funds, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the ARTstor Digital Library. He previously chaired the board of trustees of the Dalton School and co-chaired the transition committee for the New York City comptroller-elect in 2013. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In the relatively brief time since he arrived at Johns Hopkins, Kasdin has been looking into a range of issues, including the challenges of executing Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Strategic Plan. So far, he says, the experience “is exceeding my hopes. The people are fabulous, and the commitment to the mission is truly remarkable.”