CFO of SUNY system finds new challenges.

If there is a career track in college financial administration, Dr. Kimberly Cline is clearly excelling on it. Earlier this year, she was named vice chancellor and CFO at the State University of New York (SUNY) system, the largest unified state network in the country with 414,000 students and a budget of nearly $9 billion. She had been in that position in an acting capacity since last May.

Her appointment comes after stints in college finance and administration, starting at Hofstra University on Long Island, where she was assistant vice president for business affairs; then at New Jersey's Seton Hall University, as vice president for finance and administration; and the New York Maritime College, where she was recently vice president and chief operating officer.

Cline, who has offices in New York City and Albany, notes that her office has overall responsibility for financial, administrative, human resources and technology issues for the system's 64 campuses. These include four-year colleges, community colleges and research centers.

The finance group has largely an oversight role, she says, and--unlike a corporation with multiple divisions--the individual campuses don't do their own general ledgers but provide their revenue and expense numbers to the finance staff, which rolls them up and reports the numbers quarterly.

Unlike conventional CFOs, who need to lure capital from the investment community or banks, the SUNY system is heavily dependent on the state legislature for funding. Cline says that in her first experience with the system, when she took the job at the Maritime College in 1999, the state budget's adoption was delayed from April until December. "I was ready to shoot myself," she jokes.

While the system's enrollment is growing--it's up 12 percent in the past decade--finances are still on a tight leash; she is credited with achieving a 3 percent budget reduction in 2005-6.

Cline says the system has asked the state for an additional $25 million above its base needs to promote growth. Some campuses are turning students away for lack of space, she says, adding, "We need to do a better job of telling our story. We want SUNY to be a brand name." Individual campuses are being asked to develop their own promotional efforts as well.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Cline's own educational background is a bit unusual. After getting a BS in industrial relations at the University of North Carolina, she later earned a law degree, MBA and a Ph.D. in educational administration, all at Hofstra.

Cline did spend a few years at the beginning of her career with two pharmaceutical companies, so she understands how the private sector operates and how it differs from academia. "The private sector is so bottom line-oriented, and they know about their customers. Now, [college recruitment] is becoming so competitive that we really have to think about the customer as well."