Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard announced the selection of the new executive director of the ASUC Auxiliary last week.

In a statement sent to members of the ASUC, Poullard welcomed current director of the Student Union and Event Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Kelsey Finn as the new director, a position that works closely with ASUC executives overseeing business administration and acting as a liaison between the student government and the campus.

“Kelsey believes in providing ‘guest first’ services to students, staff, faculty and off campus clients and working collaboratively to enhance the learning experience of students,” Poullard said in the statement.

In her new position, Finn will oversee 27 professional staff and 124 student employees while managing an annual operating budget of $5 million, according to Poullard’s statement. She will also be involved in the ongoing Lower Sproul renovation.

According to ASUC President Connor Landgraf, ASUC officials were involved in the search process for the new director and helped to select Finn from the pool of applicants.

“I think she’s very qualified since she holds a similar position at University of Nevada,” Landgraf said. “She has a lot of experience working with students.”

Marilyn Stager, ASUC Auxiliary financial services manager, has served as the interim director since September.

Former Executive Director of the auxiliary Nadesan Permaul retired amid controversy last June, two days before the auxiliary underwent a major realignment from Administration and Finance to the Division of Student Affairs. Since then, members of the ASUC have said that campus administration is ignoring students’ wishes for the realignment.

In May, former Cooperative Movement Senator Elliot Goldstein wrote an op-ed in The Daily Californian arguing that the idea of “shared governance” on which the basis of managing the ASUC Auxiliary is founded had been breached by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Harry Le Grande and other members of the campus administration during the realignment.

A committee of students and administrators called the Transition Planning Team was founded as a compromise and created a report detailing ways to streamline the auxiliary’s operations. According to Goldstein, Le Grande has ignored the report’s recommendation regarding the executive director’s role.

“For those in the ASUC, a key part of the committee’s report was to put the ASUC Auxiliary executive director’s reporting line (who reports to whom) to Le Grande himself,” Goldstein said in the op-ed. “… Berkeley students deserve nothing less than having our student government’s reporting line to a vice chancellor level.”

According to Landgraf, as of now, the executive director reports to the dean of students.