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| The Huffer Family |
We are pleaed to welcome Kelli Huffer as she joins UVA Finance as a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist. She brings a deep understanding of University operations shaped by her time at UVA Health. She often describes her career as beginning at the front door.
Huffer began her career in 2015 as a patient relations advocate in the emergency department at UVA Hospital. In that role, she addressed patient concerns in real time by anticipating delays and working closely with staff to communicate updates before issues arose. As a patient relations advocate, she developed an interest in hospital operations. She later became a neuroscience administrative specialist and project manager, serving on the SAVE Task Force and supporting badge access and metal detector implementation during emergency department renovations.
From there, she transitioned into contract negotiation and supply chain at UVA Health, eventually serving as a senior contract negotiator. In that role, she supported mergers and acquisitions efforts, helping onboard three community hospitals into UVA Health by aligning contracts and standardizing purchasing systems. Over time, she developed a focus in pharmaceutical supply chain contracting and became the senior negotiator for enterprise pharmacy across UVA Health. That work became her niche and an area she particularly enjoyed.
Now at UVAFinance, Huffer has found the Procurement team to be welcoming and collaborative and appreciates the clear structure that guides contract work in the academic environment. She looks forward to expanding her understanding of higher education operations.
Outside of work, Huffer is a wife and a mom of three. She and her husband have been foster parents for several years, and two of their children joined the family through foster care adoption. She enjoys staying involved in her kids’ activities, including supporting her oldest child’s high school band as a band booster.
Huffer spends much of her free time outdoors, whether gardening, reading, or simply being outside with her family and two dogs. She recently began using a greenhouse to experiment with sustainable food growing and enjoys learning what works through each season.
As she settles into her role at UVA Finance, Huffer is looking forward to continuing her work in procurement and contract support while growing alongside a team that values collaboration, structure, and shared purpose.
