University of New Mexico President Garnett S. Stokes has appointed Teresa Costantinidis as Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, effective July 1, 2019.
“During our search for a new Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, we sought an individual with the expertise and vision to strategically guide UNM through an evolving financial and administrative higher education landscape,” said President Stokes. “Teresa brings exceptional experience in higher education and finance from a top public university system in the world. She understands the complexity of budget planning and how to leverage support and auxiliary functions to advance the broad mission of The University of New Mexico.”
Costantinidis is looking forward to starting her new position this summer. “The University of New Mexico is such an exciting, diverse, and vibrant institution,” said Costantinidis. “I am honored and thrilled to be able to serve as Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration. I look forward to helping President Stokes as she continues to transform this wonderful institution.”
She described the Finance and Administration team that she will lead as “responsible for helping assure that the faculty, staff, students and other university stakeholders have the best possible working environment to achieve the university’s teaching, research, and public service missions. I pledge to do my best to make sure that UNM continues improving the prospects and enriching the lives of all the people of New Mexico.”
After a six-month search, Costantinidis was selected from a pool of semi-finalists that visited the UNM campus in April. She met with a variety of institutional constituencies in open forums, giving the campus community an opportunity to engage and ask questions, as well as provide feedback to the search committee.
The search committee was led by Dean of Graduate Studies and School of Engineering Professor Julie Coonrod, who also expressed her delight regarding the decision and stated that Costantinidis “brings a wealth of experience in the UC system in times of growth and in times of budget cuts. The lessons Teresa has learned from those experiences will benefit UNM. She embraces community at all levels as evidenced by being president of her neighborhood association and having her first New Mexican meal at the counter in Duran's. I expect her to quickly learn our university and to actively work with the entire campus.”
Costantinidis fills the position vacated by David Harris, who retired last December, and filled on an interim basis by former Anderson School of Management Dean Craig White since Jan. 2019.
Costantinidis joined the University of California, San Francisco in 2011 and currently serves as the campus Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer directing and leading UCSF’s financial management activities for its $7.4 billion and 26,000 full-time employee operation. She is responsible for six UCSF financial organizations that provide resource administration and management strategy and support to the campus: Audit and Advisory Services, Budget and Resource Management, the Controller’s office, the Finance and Administrative Services Finance Service Center, Risk Management and Insurance Services, and Supply Chain Management.
A member of the UCSF Chancellor’s Cabinet, Costantinidis works closely with UCSF faculty and senior administration, as well as the UC Board of Regents, the system president and other senior officers of the university, Foundation board members, major donors, and key campus and community stakeholders. Prior to this position, she was the Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget & Resource Management responsible for planning and administration of the overall campus operating and capital budgets, costing policy, federal indirect cost rate negotiations, recharge, enterprise-wide decision support, risk management, insurance services and planning and institutional analysis.
“I am very grateful to Teresa and the impact that her experience, insight, and strong values have had on our University,” said Sam Hawgood, UCSF chancellor. “While she will be missed at UCSF, I am delighted that she has this opportunity to take on an important leadership position at The University of New Mexico.”
Costantinidis has budget and management experience spanning over 30 years at the UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley campuses. Highlights at Berkeley include serving as the Senior Assistant Dean & Chief Operating Officer for the Haas School of Business and the Assistant Vice Chancellor – Budget and Resource Planning. More recently at UC San Francisco, she served as the Interim Senior Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Costantinidis is a frequent presenter on university budgeting leading workshops and conference sessions for Western, National and Canadian Associations of College and University Business Officers, and the American Neurological Association.
She holds an MBA from Berkeley and a BS in Biological Sciences from UC Davis. Costantinidis is an active and contributing board member to industry and community organizations, serving as President of the Western Association of College and University Business Officers, and the President of the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association in the City of Oakland, Calif.