AUM appoints new CFO

Pari Sabety brings top-level financial leadership to Antioch University
National award-winner to leverage expertise in higher education

Antioch University Chancellor Toni Murdock announced today the appointment of Pari Sabety as Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer for Antioch University.

“In Pari Sabety we’ve gained an exceedingly bright and capable financial leader to ensure that Antioch University continues to be managed in an efficient manner,” Murdock said. “Sabety brings to Antioch University her known expertise in the development of shared services, ERP deployment, budgeting and fiscal controls, financial reporting, cash management, and innovative capital strategies. She is a strategic thinker and will link a financial model to our planning which will enhance our growth and sustainability.”

With the vision established by Chancellor Murdock, working in unison with the Antioch University Board of Governors, the timing is right to bring to the Antioch University leadership team someone of Pari Sabety’s caliber.

Most recently Sabety served as CFO and Cabinet member for former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, from 2007 to 2011, managing a state budget of $56 Billion and a department of 200 professionals. Sabety served as senior fiscal leader and primary public face as the administration guided the state through the worst recession in 50 years.

A certified public accountant, Sabety brings more than 20 years of experience in the field of economic development to her role as vice chancellor and CFO at Antioch University. Sabety’s work to establish Ohio Shared Services won the President’s Award for Innovation from the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers in 2010. Sabety has served as economic policy adviser to former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste, Director of the Technology Policy Group at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, and as a Fellow at the Brookings Institution where she was the director of the think-tank’s Urban Markets Initiative. With her varied background Sabety brings a wealth of experience and strategic innovation to Antioch University.

“With five campuses in four states, including my home state of Ohio, and with national and international programs, Antioch University is an academic institution steeped in values I believe in - leadership, innovation and sustainability,” Sabety said. “I look forward to putting my diverse background in management, finance, information technology, and complex organizations to work with the team at Antioch University. As the University moves forward, we will continue to position Antioch as a premier institution of higher education renowned in America and around the world.”

"High quality financial planning is critical to a university. It is what enables the university to sustainably grow and provide innovative learning opportunities for its students,” said former Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents Eric Fingerhut. “Pari is a great addition to the Antioch University team because she brings her background in operational and financial planning and her executive leadership team skills to assist the Chancellor in taking the university to the next level.”

“Non-profit, private colleges and universities have weathered the storm of the ‘The Great Recession’ and are now poised to grow even stronger as our economy recovers and more people enter our institutions of higher learning,” Hiram College President Thomas Chema said. “Antioch University is fortunate that a sound financial foundation will be strengthened under the leadership of Pari Sabety.”

Pari Sabety will begin her position as Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer at Antioch University on May 31, 2011. She has lived in Ohio since 1982. Sabety will replace retiring VC and CFO Thomas Faecke.