UC Berkeley Chief Financial Officer Erin Gore is stepping down at the end of the month after four years of helping oversee new campus financial initiatives to aid students.
Gore’s major projects during her time on campus included helping to establish the first comprehensive campuswide budget plan and overseeing the finances of the Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project.
In August, Gore accepted an executive vice president position at Wells Fargo, where she will lead its commercial-banking education and nonprofit team. Although she loved working as the campus’s CFO, Gore said the Wells Fargo offer was one she could not refuse.
“It was the best job in the world, so it’s really hard,” Gore said of the CFO position. “It’s definitely a 24-hour job, and I aspire to have more of a work-life balance.”
When she took over the CFO position in 2009, Gore was surprised to realize she had inherited a budget system that was practically nonexistent, she said. In response, she helped create the first-ever all-funds budget plan in 2012 and 2013 for the campus as part of Operational Excellence. The second budget came out earlier in September.
Gore brought in Cathy Lloyd, the executive director of strategic project management, from Harvard to implement a tool that would help with the school’s budget.
“(The budget) has been fantastic, transformational to Cal,” Lloyd said. “(Gore’s) mission, in her mind, was to have Berkeley be the leader of this revolution that needs to happen in order for higher education to survive financially.”
Gore also was largely responsible for the financial side of the Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project and said that, even though she is leaving, nothing will stop her from being at the reopening.
According to Pamela Brown, executive director of the campus Office of Planning and Analysis, Gore has always been devoted to looking for ways to improve the student experience.
Brown’s favorite story about Gore centers on a time after the implementation of the Middle Class Access Plan, which offers financial aid programs to help middle-class families. Brown recalls Gore leaving the elevator and saying, “Woo-hoo! We changed the world today.”
ASUC President DeeJay Pepito, who worked closely with Gore over the past few years, credits Gore with being one of the primary reasons the ASUC has been successful in many campaign initiatives.
“The next CFO is going to have very big shoes to fill,” Pepito said.
Although she has already accepted the new position, Gore decided to delay leaving to oversee a recent campus financial audit and to ensure continuity.
A search committee has been put together, and she said it was important to her that an undergraduate will be sitting on the committee. In the interim, Delphine Regalia will serve as controller and will report to the vice chancellor of administration and finance, and Laurent Heller will act as interim CFO.
Shannon Carroll covers academics and administration. Contact her at [email protected].