Senior Vice President, Financial Aid

Qualifications Profile

Seasoned, astute, and results-oriented professional, offering extensive experience in the administration of federal, state, and institutional aid; complemented with skills in working with semester, term, non-standard term, modular, and clock to credit hour courses. Equipped with in-depth knowledge of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Title IV regulations, along with oral and written communication skills to convey sensitive and complex information to the appropriate audience. Effective at working within fast-paced environments, while maintaining a strong work ethic and professionalism.

Areas of Expertise

Financial Aid Processes and Procedures Title IV Reconciliation Regulatory Compliance

Student Account Administration Program Management Client Services

Training and Development Change Management Internal and External Auditing

Professional Experience

Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Standish, ME

Director of Student Financial Services, Student Accounts and Financial Aid Offices Jul 2016–Present

Ensure alignment of financial aid policies, processes, and services with federal, state, and institutional programs.

Oversee the Financial Aid Team in providing accurate information and services to prospective and enrolled students.

Conceptualize and implement a strategic plan for the Financial Aid Group, while defining operational goals and performance metrics toward productivity.

Partnered with Human Resources in hiring and training employees, as well as in creating succession and development plans for growth.

Manage programs on student payments of federally and institutionally awarded financial aid.

Identified current awarding concerns; collaborated with academics to ensure compliance of program offerings and structure with newly developed awarding procedures.

Developed, implemented, and documented policies and procedures to regain federal compliance.

Financial Aid Services (FAS) Attain Consulting, Remote

Higher Education Financial Services Consultant (Independent Contractor) Jul 2015–Jul 2016

Provided professional consulting services to school clients based on their needs through in-depth operational reviews in their administration of student financial programs.

Played a key role as interim director and liaison to the vice president for clients.

Facilitated the evaluation of processes and procedures to ensure institutional compliance of federal and state aid programs, as well as implement modifications as necessary.

Gathered pertinent data to prepare detailed reports for presentation to clients as necessary.

Ensured strict confidentiality of client’s information while promptly responding to client’s concerns.

Zenith Education, Remote

Senior Manager, Training Student Finance Support Aug 2014–Jun 2015

Held full accountability in facilitating training to more than 250 call center and operational employees, which involved the following:

Planning and coordination of classroom and webinar training across multiple locations;

Preparation of trainer development programs;

Delivery of coaching services to other employees involved in training initiatives for growth and development opportunities;

Conceptualization of effective training materials through various media; and

Evaluation of results through follow-up studies of all completed training.

Closely monitored and documented changes for functional and business specifications.

Drafted accurate procedures for future references and training purposes.

Employed analytical skills in identifying opportunities for business process optimization through information systems.

Offered hands-on support with the preparation of proposals to develop and implement new systems and/or operational changes.

Initiated multiple workflow queries; as well as more than 100 different processes for daily operations of four geographically separated locations.

Socle Education (Acquired by Zenith) Colorado Springs, CO

Senior Manager, Student Finance Support Nov 2010–Aug 2014

Rendered direct leadership to 4 managers and 10 student finance support supervisors as well as indirect supervision to approximately 125 student finance support representatives across three locations.

Managed key tasks, including financial aid awarding, Return to Title IV funding, credit resolution, and student account management and disbursement.

Presided over the training of staff on updates and procedural changes, including internal and external software, audits, and general infrastructure progression.

Keenly supervised training and customer support groups to guarantee the delivery of high-quality services.

Established business relationships with business and corporate organizations; Internal Regulatory and Audit and Compliance departments; and external regulatory bodies as necessary.

Expertly handled an average of $345M Title IV funding on a quarterly basis.

Played an instrumental role in the startup of two additional locations, which enabled the corporation to increase the efficiency of processing.

Everest University

Director of Student Finance/Accounts, Colorado Springs, CO Nov 2009–Nov 2010

Spearheaded collection processes to effectively maintain a minimal cash payment balance and bad debt accruement.

Conducted training of student accounts and finance staff to increase their knowledge of Title IV funding, systems, and processes.

Regularly reviewed accounting reports to ensure accuracy of activities and opportunities for improvement.

Led and mentored the assigned team to provide customer support to cross-functional departments, while providing assistance with student inquiries.

Oversaw department processes for student exits to maintain compliance error rate of less than 3% against the overall goal of less than 5%.

Director of Student Finance, Special Project Team, Tampa, FL

Formed and managed a Special Projects Team, including their goals and job descriptions, which comprised of reports, loan, default prevention, and four student finance specialists.

Led the team in identifying non-compliant activities and maintaining Title IV regulations within the organization.

Participated to weekly meetings with area vice president to discuss current project progress and forecast department future needs.

Organized and managed weekly meetings with individual staff to evaluate processes and determine tools or modifications toward improvement.

Worked closely with reports specialists to evaluate daily, weekly, and monthly reporting and ensure accuracy; provided recommendations or changes, presented through in-depth analysis.

Strayer University, Herndon, VA

Corporate Financial Aid Manager, Corporate Offices Jan 2007–Nov 2009

Directed and assisted 25 campuses with daily business office responsibilities and processing of Title IV funding in compliance with all applicable rules and regulatory requirements associated with Federal Title IV and state and campus-based aid funds.

Supported the corporate director of financial aid in implementing financial aid projects and processes; as well as corporate financial aid in monitoring drop, refund, and R2T4 procedures and calculations as necessary.

Administered the completion of Title IV-compliant disbursement and recovery processes.

Applied detail-oriented nature in the assessment of professional judgment requests.

Created and executed financial aid training for campus business offices and during annual meetings as requested.

Observed strict adherence to the university’s record retention policy related to student financial aid files.

Stayed abreast of applicable regulations by maintaining membership with professional organizations, such as the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).

Education

Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, Minor in Public Administration: 2006

University of Central Florida, Winter Park, FL

Professional Affiliations

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)

Maine Association of Student Aid Administrators (MASFAA)

Technical Acumen

CampusVue® Microsoft Office Suite Common Origination and Disbursement (COD)

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) SharePoint OnBase Campus Café’, Ed connect

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