Two Eller Alumnae Tapped as University CFOs

Lisa Rulney ’15 MBA was recently appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer at the University of Arizona—and as far as Eller College of Management alumni in the C-suite of universities go, she’s not alone. Jean Vock ’06 MAcc was appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2017.

At UNLV, Vock oversees the business affairs division, including everything from human resources and financial services to real estate and risk management. This breadth of responsibilities makes sense in an ever-evolving 21^stcentury marketplace. 

“The world in which we work is dynamic and experiencing a rate of change like never before,” Vock says. “This results in the need for frequent changes in business models, systems, business process and budgeting, forecasting and analytical tools.”

Rulney serves as the UA’s senior business and financial officer with responsibilities that include financial services, human resources and facilities management, not to mention the University of Arizona’s public media station and university police.

During their academic careers at Eller, both Rulney and Vock were challenged by faculty to further develop critical thinking and analytical skills. The positions they took after graduation—Vock within the Eller College and Rulney with UA’s College of Engineering—helped them hone their leadership collaboration skills as well as what it means to strategize enterprise-wide in order to advance the mission. 

“Both of these alumnae exemplify the caliber of business professionals we strive for our students to become,” says Dean Paulo Goes. “We’re proud of their continued success and leadership and honored to be a part of their accomplishments.”

“My education and experiences at Eller helped me become more proficient at building effective, agile teams and establishing partnerships across the organization to be responsive to these changes,” says Vock. “These skills have continued to serve me well in meeting new challenges in my role at UNLV.”