U of A president brings in special advisor on finances, budgets

Richard Cate is currently vice president for finance and administration at UVM and set to retire there in June after 17 years. He’s been brought in as a UA contractor by Garimella, who was UVM president until joining UA on Oct. 1.

“We have sincere, hard-working leaders and staff in this area, but we need to continue to improve our processes, transparency, and budget modeling, and build greater integration and visibility between central and college/unit-level budgets,” Garimella said in an email.

Cate, while finishing out his tenure at UVM, started his work for UA in January and will continue in his limited contracted role here until June.

He has been contracted to work a minimum of 40 hours a month for compensation of $6,000 monthly and will not have any rights to university benefits except travel reimbursements, said UA spokesperson Mitch Zak. His position, while senior level, is not a full-time administrative one, Zak said.

Cate’s compensation is in addition to the $550,000 annual salary paid to John Arnold for his role as senior vice president and chief operating and financial officer.

Cate will work on special projects including a comprehensive and expedited review of the UA’s budget model, along with advising Garimella and supporting Arnold.

“In addition to his operational responsibilities, Richard advised me on a wide range of strategic issues, and I always valued and appreciated his counsel,” wrote Garimella about working with Cate at UVM. “His deep and long experience in higher education finances and budgeting, and also in real estate development, facilities management, and university operations, will serve as a great resource to us in the coming months.”

Faculty Senator Lucy Ziurys said, “I hope the new advisor and Mr. Arnold will work effectively together to correct the mistakes of the past,” referring to the UA’s budget deficit, now down to $65 million from $177 million in early 2024.

Arnold, in an interview with the Star, has “had a terrific career in public service and higher education, he has a deep knowledge.”

“I’m relatively new to higher education. I think I bring a lot to the table, but having his deep experience and insight that I can tap into has just been really helpful,” Arnold said. “The president said from Day One that he wanted to expand our resources on the financial side and with Richard, it is just an extremely efficient way to bring in that level of knowledge and talent with honestly very limited cost to the university.”

In terms of the logistics of Arnold and Cate working together, Arnold said that as he is in the midst of day-to-day responsibilities, it is great to have someone outside of that who can sit and think about things.

Cate’s responsibilities will be a combination of advising on investment opportunities, making financial decisions, working on special projects that Arnold doesn’t have the time to do due to his other duties, and bringing ideas to the table.

“It is understandable and smart, particularly in a case like ours where the place has been financially mismanaged in multiple ways, that as a new president, Garimella wants to have an experienced person, who is in a sense their person and independent to assess and provide guidance,” Gary Rhoades, a faculty senator and director of the Educational Leadership and Policy program, told the Star.

“John Arnold is ABOR’s person, was responsible for overseeing the university’s finances and obviously did not address what had been unfolding for years, and lacks campus-based experience of how units, divisions, and college budgeting and planning operates,” Rhoades said.

In response, Zak said: “John (Arnold) inherited a $177 million deficit, and through his work, the leadership of President Garimella and university-wide collaboration, the U of A was able to not increase resident undergraduate tuition, will offer salary increases for employees, and will begin next fiscal year with no deficit.”

Arnold was former executive director of the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s three public universities, when former UA President Robert C. Robbins revealed what he called the university’s “financial crisis” in November 2023.

Robbins subsequently stepped down under public pressure and Arnold became UA’s interim, and then permanent, chief financial officer, leaving his ABOR role. Arnold was also previously financial director for an Arizona governor.

Said Rhoades, “Garimella also clearly understands that just as a university cannot simply grow out of its financial challenges, it cannot simply cut its way out of them.” The UA has cut 328 positions supported by unrestricted funds as it works to eliminate the deficit.

Rhoades said it’s a good sign that Garimella is “adopting a hands-on approach to the university’s finances and financial management.”

Chair of the Faculty Leila Hudson said, “Given the complexities and limitations of John Arnold’s role, I think it’s good that we have an experienced and trusted outside consultant.”

Hudson spoke of Cate’s appointment, in addition to others by Garimella since October, such as Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, who named senior vice president for research and innovation in November.

She said it hasn’t gone unnoticed by faculty that the most recent hires came from either Purdue University or UVM, universities where Garimella previously worked.

“That has raised a lot of eyebrows about whether we are having the kind of open, free, well-constructed searches that a university like ours should have,” said Hudson.

“Here I have two minds because if President Garimella can fix our problems with minimum additional damage, that may be a price that’s worth paying. … It’s not healthy as a long-term pattern, but it might be acceptable in the kind of emergency situation,” she said.