At the beginning of March, the University of Indianapolis announced that Indiana State Budget Director Jason Dudich would be the university’s new CFO, vice president and treasurer. Dudich will be replacing former Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Michael Holstein, who retired in December 2018.
University President Robert Manuel said that he believes that Dudich will continue the fiscal leadership that was started by Holstein. He said that Dudich has previously worked with former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s office and Indiana University. Dudich was appointed as state budget director by Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2017, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.
Dudich said that one of his main goals at UIndy will be to keep the university financially strong and to ensure that it is able to have the resources that are needed for faculty, staff and students. He said that with his position, he hopes that he will be able to help UIndy take on new initiatives in the future.
“[I want UIndy to be able to] be flexible in identifying ways that we can meet those new initiatives and new goals,” Dudich said. “I certainly want to make sure that there’s a high level of transparency. My time in government has really helped me understand that transparency is important for those who are working with—whether [that be] the state or the university—in understanding how well the institution is doing financially and [how they] can talk about financial situations that will hurt or help the institution… Because it’s so vitally important to the institution and its future success.”
Dudich said that he believes that finances are something that should be communicated about due to their importance in decision making and because it is a subject that many do not completely understand. He said that one of his goals is to educate students, faculty and staff about UIndy’s finances.
“Whether that be our budget, whether that be our investments, whether that be how we set policies that impact the financial operations of the institution,” Dudich said. “To [be able to] talk to and educate individuals so that they understand when we present financial information, and when we talk about financial situations, [and] that they feel like they are on a level playing field with the financial team.”
According to a press release from UIndy, Dudich will be moving into his position in June. Dudich said that he is excited and looking forward to joining UIndy as CFO, VP and Treasurer.
“I welcome the opportunity to meet as many people as I can to talk about the university and learn as much as I can from people who have been there both in the short run, and the long run,” Dudich said. “I’m just very excited to get down there and take the experience that I have had over the last 18 years in the public sector and see what I can do to help UIndy out and make it successful…[I am] very thankful for the opportunity that the board and President Manuel gave me and also the opportunities the Governor gave me to work [in] this role [as budget director], but also to be able to step in to this new role [as CFO, VP and Treasurer] and do something different in higher education, which I’ve always been interested in working in.”
