City College has a new vice president of Business Services, Joseph Sullivan, replacing Brian Fahnestock, who left City College to go private earlier this year.
Sullivan, a UCSB graduate and City College alumnus, now heads all the financial workings for college services. He was chosen from a pool of 50 applicants and comes from the private sector.
“He brings a very broad range of experience,” said John Romo, president of City College. “I was looking for a strong fiscal background and he clearly brings technical experience to the fiscal side coming from the private sector.”
Sullivan has 20 years of experience in finance and management, most recently as vice president of Finance & Administration for ThauMDx, a local biotech company.
Sullivan, the first person in his family to attend college, has had a long relationship with City College preceding his business career.
“I came to City College when I was trying to find out where I wanted to go,” Sullivan said. “At 28 I had very little idea of what I wanted to do with my life.”
After finishing at City College, Sullivan graduated from UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in business economics, got his master’s in business administration from UCLA and headed into the private sector. He then worked with companies in the Santa Barbara and southern California areas, watching many of their revenue increase by as much as 30 percent.
Despite his successes in the private sector, Sullivan came calling again when City College had an opening for a new vice president of Business Affairs. This time he wanted to give back to the college that had helped him find his way.
“I am very excited to work for such a quality organization,” Sullivan said. “It’s a very valuable resource for the community and they (City College) deliver a high quality product.”
Though Sullivan attended City College and brings more than 20 years of experience facilitating the start-up, turn-around and growth of several companies, he has never worked in an academic setting.
“It’s a different culture with different methods of accounting,” Sullivan said. “I have to learn to work within the structure that is in place at City College.”
However, Romo is not worried.
“He has a quality about him that I really thought would succeed in an academic setting,” he said.
City College faculty, Romo added, are not worried about Sullivan’s lack of academic experience either.
“There was strong support for Joe (Sullivan),” he said.
Though his new responsibilities include heading large budget reconstructions, such as changes to the fitness center and the never ending parking problem, Sullivan seems to think that maintaining the college’s commitment to excellence is paramount.
“City College has the reputation of producing for the student at a very high level,” Sullivan said. “You have wonderful resources here. My goal is to maintain that level.”
As he joins the ranks of the college’s five vice presidents, at a salary of $109,000, he is not worried about the problems he might run into.
“I have encountered such problems in the business world,” he said.
As for any problems he may not have already encountered, Romo quipped, “He is on a very big learning curve.”