Ithaca College president Tom Rochon has announced the appointment of Gerald Hector as vice president of the Division of Finance and Administration. Hector, who has two decades of experience in financial management in both the higher education and private sectors, will join the college on July 1.
He succeeds Carl Sgrecci, who announced last year that he would be stepping down from the post he has held since 2003.
Hector has served since 2004 as vice president of business and finance at Johnson C. Smith University, a historically black college in Charlotte, North Carolina. His achievements there have included playing a leading role in advancing the financial health and security of the university, helping create a campus master plan and strategic plan, overseeing several multimillion dollar construction and renovation projects and revising the enterprise resource planning system to streamline budget and accounting processes that are now all accessible online.
Several financial firsts were achieved during his nine years at the university, including the establishment of an unrestricted cash reserve of approximately $10 million. He was a part of the team that saw the university receive a perfect score on its most recent reaccreditation efforts with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
“I am pleased that Mr. Hector has accepted our offer and will be joining the Ithaca College community,” said Rochon. “Over the past decade he has directed with distinction a division that included budget, finance, facilities, purchasing and postal services, risk management, motor pool and payroll, among other areas. During that time he has led his institution to a position of greater financial strength while establishing his reputation on campus as an excellent communicator and a leader of integrity. He will be a wonderful successor in the tradition of leadership established here by Carl Sgrecci.”
“I am extremely honored and humbled at the same time to become a member of the Ithaca College family,” said Hector. “I fell in love with IC when I learned of its visionary and collaborative leadership team, exceptional student-focused programs and overall commitment to excellence. I believe the college is poised for continued greatness, as its reputation and influence in the higher education sphere bode well for a superior high-performing institution.”
For six years prior to joining the university, Hector was the corporate controller for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). There he transformed the entire financial structure to create greater efficiencies in accounting and fundraising operations. He helped establish the financial framework for the $1 billion Gates Millennium Scholars Program, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation administered by the UNCF that seeks to provide access to higher education for 20,000 minority students through the year 2020.
Hector began his career in finance in 1993 as a public accountant in the Washington, D.C., office of Deloitte and Touche. He specialized in multinational independent power utilities and nonprofit organizations, providing services to clients that included auditing financial statements, pension plans and public filings.
Acting as Ithaca College’s chief financial officer, Hector will be responsible for providing leadership and guidance in the development, implementation, and administration of policies, programs and services for the Offices of Business and Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology Services and Facilities.
Nancy Pringle, vice president and general counsel and the chair of the search committee, said Hector is a perfect fit for the job. “He brings a wealth of experience in higher education financial management as well as a record of collaborative decision-making to this key position, and I look forward to working with him as part of the college’s senior leadership team.”
His professional affiliations include Educational and Institutional Insurance Administrators, Inc., where he chairs the National Risk Management Subcommittee and is a member of the Joint Advisory Council and Employee Benefits Task Force. He has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Northwest Corridor Community Development Corporation and served on the Campus Safety Task Force headed by the attorney general of North Carolina.
Hector holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Howard University and certificates from the College Business Management Institute at the University of Kentucky and Common Fund Endowment Institute at Yale University. He earned his Certified Public Accountant license in 1998 and is currently studying for his master of divinity degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20130515115743952