Rice University recognises Spencer senior associate vice president and deputy chief financial officer

Katrina Spencer has been named Rice University’s senior associate vice president and deputy chief financial officer in a permanent capacity after spending four months in those roles on an interim basis.

Spencer, who assumed the permanent position Feb. 15, leads the team responsible for maintaining all financial information, training, reports and policies at the university. In addition, she is part of the leadership team for the Budget Transformation Initiative, which will support and enable the university’s strategic goal of developing a budget that reflects Rice’s values.

“Katrina has successfully provided strategic thinking, leadership and communications to support Rice’s financial portfolio,” said Kelly Fox, vice president for finance and administration. “She has a proven track record for building inclusive and highly functional teams while collaboratively implementing and moving strategic projects forward, including enacting new budget models, reforming the financing of doctoral education, building stronger data and financial management tools, and implementing new budget systems.”

Before joining Rice, Spencer served as the deputy chief financial officer at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she was responsible for the budget office, controller’s office, capital finance, finance policy and financial compliance. She also held high-level financial roles at the University of Chicago, the University of Connecticut and the University of California, Berkeley. In these positions, she oversaw universitywide resource allocation, budgeting, capital finance, multiyear planning and strategic initiatives.

Spencer holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University, where she focused on economics, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University.