Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) gave Hokkaido University funding for 10 years to support the university’s research efforts. This funding is meant for fostering skilled leadership for university management, an aspect that’s lacking in most Japanese universities. Hokkaido University has implemented drastic organizational changes to create a team of university research administrators that will serve as the future leadership. In this issue, we show how the team was established and discuss the challenges the university has been facing in fostering new talent in university management.