Dear Bentley community,
Following an impressive and comprehensive national search, I am proud to announce Mark Harris, DBA, as Bentley’s next vice president for Administration and Finance and chief financial officer/treasurer. Mark was identified by the search committee as a standout candidate among approximately 150 applicants hailing from institutions big and small, private and public, local and nonlocal, higher ed-based and industry-based, and I quickly agreed with their assessment. Mark is currently serving as vice president for Finance and Administration and CFO at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York.
Mark exceeded expectations in his exhibited commitment to Bentley’s mission and values; strategic and financial leadership; resource-based decision-making; community and board collaboration; operational and administrative leadership; change management; innovation and problem-solving; and people leadership and culture. I believe Mark is an outstanding leader that Bentley will be fortunate to have at the helm of our financial operations for years to come. Mark is on campus this week to sit in on our May Board of Trustees meeting and will officially join Bentley on July 1. He is excited to get to Waltham and get to work. Coming from a similarly sized institution, Mark deeply understands the importance of openness, transparency and communication. I know he is looking forward to getting to know faculty and staff across our campus in the coming months.
Mark joins Bentley with more than 20 years of progressive senior-level leadership and management experience in oil and gas, financial services and college administration. At St. John Fisher, Mark established a new budget philosophy that maintained healthy margins while also reinvesting gains in necessary capital projects. He led the annual budget development process, oversaw a Series 2024 bond transaction that was used to source the modernization and renovation of the library, and led the initiative that resulted in the development of a Facilities Master Plan and Facilities Condition Assessment. Throughout his tenure at St. John Fisher, Mark developed and produced consistently accurate and relevant university metrics, benchmarked to peer institutions, that guided leadership decision making and evidence-based decision making.
Prior to his time at St. John Fisher, Mark was the vice president for Business and Financial Affairs and CFO at Suffolk County Community College in Selden, New York; vice president for Administration and Finance and CFO at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, New Jersey; and CFO and vice president for Finance and Administrative Services at Cumberland County College in Vineland, New Jersey. Earlier in his career, he held various roles at Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services, a premier provider of integrated specialty services to the global energy, industrial and infrastructure markets. Mark earned a doctorate in Business Administration, MBA in Finance and bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Wilmington University, as well as a master’s degree in Financial Planning from the University of Georgia.
I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to Vice President for Human Resources Kristen Jadul, who chaired this nationwide search. Committee members also deserving of tremendous thanks for their time and attention to this effort over the past few months include Trustee Tom Alber, Trustee Gordon Pulsifer, Carolina Figueroa, Juliet Gainsborough, Dave Gulley, Lindsay Haddad, Chris Joyce, Tom Kane, Andrew Shepardson and Paul Tesluk. And finally, I’d like to acknowledge and thank Alison Walker who acted as our in-house search firm, managing the search, personally interviewing candidates, producing reports and summaries, and keeping the entire process on track. Your collective efforts yielded a great result for Bentley.
Maureen Forrester, of course, and the entire division of Administration and Finance, are ready to welcome and support Mark during this transition. Maureen will remain with Bentley until mid-July, supporting Mark as she hands off the baton to him.
Please join me in welcoming Mark to our community. I know he will make us proud.
Most sincerely,
Brent