What keeps you in higher ed?
Higher education and academic medicine are fascinating missions, and they’re filled with numbers. I like numbers. If I have a superpower, it’s seeing patterns in numbers that other people might miss and then explaining them succinctly. People have said that I can analyze 50,000 numbers and distill them down to the five that really matter.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand that this ability is tied to my neurodiversity, specifically my autism. I love universities. I love scholarships, science, education and the impact of discovery. Higher education is a space full of interesting numerical patterns and very interesting people, and I’ve found my niche here.
Why UC San Diego?
UC San Diego is part of University of California system which is, hands down, the greatest public university system in the world. What really impressed me is that UC San Diego’s trajectory within the UC system is unparalleled.
The campus was founded in 1960 and in a relatively short time it has achieved extraordinary scale and excellence across education, research, academic medicine and impact. That slope of growth attracted me.
Describe your role – what’s one thing you want people to understand about what you do?
I’m the chief financial officer. My role is to articulate a clear strategy for financing the university and its mission. I use the word “articulate” very deliberately. I don’t create or decide the strategy. I reflect it back in words and numbers.
I’m a budget analyst by training. I do long-term financial projections, typically 10-year horizons. These aren’t predictions of the future or decisions I’m making; they’re articulations of financial strategy. They serve as road maps for the university community.
I also oversee several administrative areas and provide guidance and support to ensure these functions are done well in service of the university. On the financial side, that includes budget and financial operations like accounting and student financial solutions. In administration, I oversee ITS, HR, housing, dining, logistics and related functions.
What does the campus community need to understand about university finances?
First and foremost, everything we do is in service to the university and its mission. Many years ago, a provost wrote something that stuck with me: “To budget is to choose.” The budget process is fundamentally about making choices.
One core way that the units of the university interact with my office is through the budget process, but I also want people to understand all the other ways they interact with our office. When our community uses the campus Wi-Fi network, receives a paycheck, eats in a dining facility or resides in campus housing, they are experiencing what we’re doing in service to the people and mission of this university.
Tell us about your goals and priorities. For the next six months and beyond?
I can summarize them in four areas. These are my six-month priorities and honestly, my six-year priorities as well.
- Supporting a solid financial foundation. This means strong accounting, reporting and financial controls. Solid books are the foundation of everything in finance.
- Focusing on the upcoming budget. We’re currently working on Fiscal Year 2027. Fortunately, it appears we won’t be facing the catastrophic cuts we feared a year ago. However, we must still grapple with the fundamental challenge that the rate of growth of our cost inflation is exceeding the rate of growth of our revenue, which requires us to make thoughtful choices.
- Articulating a clear, long-term financial strategy. Over the next 10 years, we need to ensure our major needs, like capital investments in infrastructure, align with the university’s financial capacity.
- Providing strong administrative support to the campus from VCFA areas. The services we provide, information technology, human resources, housing, dining and logistics, should all be delivered well and within budget.
What are the biggest financial challenges facing UC San Diego, now and in the coming years?
At the core is what I call the “first derivative problem”: costs are growing faster than revenues. Many of our major revenue drivers, such as tuition, enrollment, state appropriations, federal grant funding and patient care revenues, are all heavily influenced by government policy. Whether they grow, stagnate or decline depends on political and economic factors.
At the same time, we’re in a much more inflationary environment than we were for over a decade before the pandemic. Costs are rising sharply and will continue to grow faster than they used to. That combination creates real challenges.
What inspires you outside of work?
I’m a voracious reader of nonfiction, history, astronomy and neuroscience. If someone is trying to answer the question “What is consciousness?” I’ll read it. I’ll also read about the British royal family or the history of the British Empire. I have a telescope and do a bit of amateur astronomy. I’m glad to live somewhere now that isn’t cloudy nine months of the year.