GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC SECTOR CFO OF THE YEAR
Colin Donahue
California State University, Northridge
Colin Donahue, Vice President of Administration and Finance and CFO at CSUN is a strategic university administrator with outstanding leadership skills and over 25 years of progressively increasing responsibility in business operations, financial analysis, budgeting, capital development, risk assessment, and human resource management. He directs a wide range of campus departments that provide essential services to students, faculty, staff, and the external community. He oversees university fiscal operations, facility construction and maintenance, police services, parking, intercollegiate athletics, Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) human resource administration, and internal audit. He also serves as a member of the CSUN Foundation, the North Campus-University Park Development Corporation and several other campus boards and committees. At CSUN, Donahue is a high-energy, visionary leader with a passion for meaningful change, not only at CSUN, but also throughout the California State University (CSU) system. An innovative thinker with creative and financial acumen, he directs a wide range of campus departments that provide essential services to students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. His management oversight includes university fiscal operations, facility construction and maintenance, police services, parking, intercollegiate athletics, human resource administration, Valley Performing Arts Center and internal audit.
He provides executive-level direction and management oversight for a diverse group of units including Financial Services; Human Resources; Police Services; Budget Planning and Management; Facilities Planning, Design, and Construction; Physical Plant Management; Environmental Health and Safety; Equity and Diversity; and the Internal Auditor. He also provides oversight in the operation and fiscal management of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Valley Performing Arts Center. Donahue represents the University’s interests with a variety of units within the CSU system office, and with a variety of vendors and other external constituencies. Oversees a total staff of approximately 700 and manages an operating budget of approximately $30 million.
