Though Larry Reese made his first trip to Ohio as the first of four candidates for vice president of Finance and Administration, he found he had some unexpected links to Ohio University.
I'd been in every state east of the Mississippi except Ohio
Reese said as he began his half-hour speech and open forum at 4:30 p.m. yesterday in the Human Resource and Training Building. University employees attended the event, but no students were present.
Former OU President Robert Glidden hired Reese in 1993 as inspector general and director of internal auditing at Florida State University. Reese also audited the University of Florida while OU President Roderick McDavis was dean of its college of education.
My prayer before I came here was that I had not written him any audits he said, laughing.
Reese graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's in business administration and a major in accounting. Currently the vice president for Administrative and Financial Services at Florida A&M University, his career to date consists of Florida institutions.
As he looks for a university to spend the last years of his career, Reese said he likes OU's location and reputation.
He complimented the communication he observed between OU's faculty and administration.
It's important that we involve the staff in all levels of communication he said. That's a real strength that money cannot buy.
With 14 years experience in university finance administration and 17 years as an auditor, Reese said he is extremely organized and wellplanned and expects his employees to be the same way.
I don't like surprises
he said.
Reese's employees at Florida A&M must write out work plans, initiatives and mission statements for each year. He prefers plans to be forward thinking instead of relying on norms from the past.
We like to think that universities are institutions that last forever
yet we make our budgets one year at a time
Reese said.
When asked about McDavis' goal to double OU's funding in five years, Reese said fund raising is more the duty of research than finance and administration.
Reese said he supports faculty by taking administrative burdens off their shoulders.
We're here because of the students and the faculty
he said. I think I'd be a very poor administrator if I ever lost sight of that.
He also said he works as much as he can to help students. He developed an eight-minute video about credit card debt for students that was such a hit, Florida A&M sent a copy to every high school in the United States with more than 100 students.
(Reese) has a strong background in finance and administration
said Linda Lonsinger, OU's director of employee and labor relations.
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