CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University has named two financial leaders with deep experience in higher education to play crucial roles in administrative services management and and budget planning, school officials announced today.

The complexity of OSU's financial affairs, like those of other higher education campuses and public agencies, have become increasingly challenging in recent years due to budget reductions, declines in public funding and the national recession. The two new hires will build on existing efforts to manage OSU resources more efficiently and create more stability in university operations.

Brian Meara is the new director of Budget and Fiscal Planning. Assistant vice chancellor for Budget Operations and a financial analyst for the Oregon University System for the past five years, Meara also has 12 years of private-sector experience in financial services.

In his new role, Meara will assume responsibility for the university budget, including fiscal planning and analysis in support of university decision making.  

"Brian has deep familiarity with our budget and fiscal planning through his work in the Oregon University System, and that will enable him to have an immediate impact at a critical time," said McCambridge. "His experience as an analyst will be very valuable as we work toward a more sustainable and stable financial picture for the university."

Bob Nettles, who has 22 years of experience as a university vice president for business affairs, is OSU's new director of Administrative Services. Nettles most recently served the Oregon Institute of Technology as vice president for Finance and Administration before retiring in 2009. He'll be responsible for OSU's business centers, which began to be opened in 2009 as an effort to cluster budget management and human resources in regional offices around campus. Many of those duties were previously handled separately in each of the university's colleges and administrative divisions.

Four of the centers are now operational. Each serves multiple academic and administrative units in an effort to achieve greater efficiency, improve quality and consistency of service and save money, said Mark McCambridge, vice president of Finance and Administration.

"Clustering these responsibilities in regional offices serving multiple units represents a significant change to historic practices here, and we believe we can best complete the implementation of the business center model with an experienced, knowledgeable leader having this as a sole, daily responsibility," said McCambridge. "Bob is exactly the right person for this job."

Nettles and Meara begin work immediately.

Source: 

Mark McCambridge, 541-737-2447

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