A Staff Spotlight on Kim Branagan

If you happen to see a light on early in the morning on the fifth floor of the Galleries in downtown Syracuse, its likely from the office of Kim Branagan. In an office space flanked with vintage-looking area maps, shelves brimming with green foliage and surfaces dotted with stacks of files, Kim is usually among the first in the office on any given day. She is an early riser, a habit instilled in her from her upbringing on her family’s dairy farm located northwest of Syracuse, where she still resides.

Kim is the Chief of Staff for the Information Management and Technology (IMT) division at Upstate Medical University. Spanning over 25 years at Upstate, her career has evolved from her starting position at the Help Desk, to becoming a vital force within Upstate’s information technology landscape, serving as the right-hand woman to the Chief Information Officer, Mark Zeman.

The dynamic pairing of Mark and Kim is beneficial to Upstate. While Mark is the innovative change-maker and leader of the IMT division, Kim is the force multiplier, a term often used by Mark to describe her. Above all else, Kim is detail-oriented and armed with important connections within Upstate, which makes her the go-to person for anything related to operational duties, budgeting, compensation, contracts, managing RFPs, copy editing, as well as grant writing and administration.

Career Journey

Kim graduated with an associate degree in secretarial science from SUNY Morrisville and began her career as a legal secretary. An ironic piece of Kim’s story is her specific memory of her technophobe tendencies early in her career. She recalls being terrified of computers when she first started working with them. The gentle nudging and reinforcement from her supervisor that she wouldn’t, in fact, break the computer by pressing the wrong button, vaulted Kim into learning every aspect of platforms and programs she utilized, quickly positioning herself as a super-user among her peers. Kim continued her education, both formally and self-taught, to focus on upskilling around the specifics of computer software and technology. In 1998, she joined the Upstate IMT team as a Help Desk Analyst, where she spent over eight years resolving users’ technical issues. She also developed and taught various computer courses on behalf of IMT, the College of Health Professions, and Onondaga Community College.

To satisfy her quest for continued growth, Kim took a position as the Dean’s Assistant within Upstate’s College of Nursing. In this role, Kim was exposed to the inner workings of Upstate’s academic side. Deciding to blend her passion for administrative work and technology, Kim would eventually transition back to the IMT division, taking a role as assistant to then CIO, Terry Wagner, and now serves as IT Chief of Staff, reporting to Mark Zeman. “It felt like coming home,” Kim recalls.

Serving as IMT’s go-to person for myriad topics, Kim never knows what her day will entail. But this is precisely what invigorates her, finding fulfillment in the unpredictable nature of her work.

“Every job has taught me something that has helped make me successful in the next role. I’ve been able to take a piece of every role and use that to grow myself and skillsets. There is always something valuable to be learned, even if the journey didn’t go as planned,” Kim says. “One of the most important lessons I have learned in my career is that customer service can, and should, be applied in every aspect of life. Every single person looks for help with something, and every answer is customer service. If you can provide an answer with a smile, you doubled the reward by creating a positive experience for yourself and the person you’re interacting with.”

On Team Culture

Kim's journey at Upstate has been marked by continuous learning and growth. Looking back at her career journey, Kim easily says that her most meaningful accomplishment is having achieved her current title of IT Chief of Staff. The culture of innovation and open input has allowed Kim to have a strong and impactful voice on the direction of the IMT division. “My input is highly valued, and I feel like I am actively making a difference while supporting Upstate’s mission; it is personally and professionally fulfilling,” says Kim. “I also love seeing how our leadership fosters a culture of growth, giving staff the opportunities to become leaders both within and outside of their current role. If the leaders believe there is untapped potential in a staff member, they will tap into it.”  

“I also love seeing how our leadership fosters a culture of growth, giving staff the opportunities to become leaders both within and outside of their current role. If the leaders believe there is untapped potential in a staff member, they will tap into it.”  

Kim serves as a compelling illustration of the career advancement possibilities when a leadership team cultivates an environment that acknowledges potential and facilitates professional development opportunities for its employees.

Outside of Work

At her core, Kim is an investigator. She is driven and motivated by the process of learning and research, more so than the outcome. This drive presents in all aspects of Kim’s life, professionally and personally.

Starting at a young age, Kim’s love of fact-finding was on display. Growing up with horses, Kim was an active 4-H member, showing horses in county, state, and regional shows. Her 4-H involvement also presented her with the opportunity to compete at the state level on the Horse Bowl Team.  She also placed second in the individual competition at the Eastern Atlantic Regional Hippology Tournament, which tested the knowledge of equine science and its application. Kim’s love for horses followed her into adulthood, when she and her brother would take weeklong vacations in the fall, typically spending eight hours a day horseback riding followed by cooking over an open fire and sleeping in a tent.

After two spinal surgeries that curtailed her ability to continue riding and serving as a volunteer firefighter and secretary at the Belgium Cold Springs Fire Department, Kim wasted no time filling the void:  she dove deeper into genealogy research, another passion that deeply satisfies her investigative bent.

She currently serves as a member of the board of trustees and secretary of the Riverview Cemetery Association in Baldwinsville, a volunteer for Find-a-Grave and family history lookups, and has marked her 25^th year as a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. She manages 32 DNA profiles on behalf of close relatives, allowing her to expand her family history research and tracing some genealogical lines back to medieval times. Her research has taken her to England, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and, most recently, Salt Lake City as a participant at the RootsTech Family History and Technology Conference.

Kim’s extensive research helped to identify countless relatives interred in local cemeteries. Kim recalls combining her research with a spelling and reading lesson for her two daughters who would be given letters to identify on a gravestone to help Kim locate them. “My family is actively involved in honoring our ancestors. Every Memorial Day weekend, which used to be called Decoration Day, we travel to 18 cemeteries in four different counties to decorate the graves of our relatives,” says Kim.

On evenings and weekends, Kim can likely be found in her home’s ‘genealogy room’ which is decorated with portraits of her ancestors and a recent addition of a graphic representation of her family tree, a visual culmination of her decades-long dedication to piecing together her family lineage puzzle.

Another creative interest Kim has is quilting which, amazingly, she does 100% by hand. She started quilting at the age of fifteen and sees her creations as gifts for generations to come, remarking how she has her great-great-grandfather’s quilt on her bed at the present time. She also enjoys historical documentaries, recommending Gettysburg, which she rewatches every year. “As I watch documentaries, I wonder if my ancestors experienced these challenges and how they dealt with them,” Kim remarks. “To what degree did they play a part in creating the history we now read about in textbooks?”

Kim’s unwavering search for knowledge and commitment to continuous learning seeps into every aspect of her life as a researcher, historian, a creative, a technologist, a family-focused woman, and an Upstate force multiplier. Her career journey at Upstate reflects a passion for having her finger on the pulse of both administrative duties and technology, alongside her deep connection to her community and personal interests. As the IT Chief of Staff, Kim brings a unique blend of skills, professionalism and experiences to contribute to the dynamic culture at Upstate.