Conversations with the Cabinet

Manish Kumar began his role as Vice President for Finance and Administration in January 2020.

“Six weeks into my job, before I could even get to know anybody, we all were sent home due to the pandemic,” Kumar said. “No university was ready to be remote, or was prepared for COVID-19 challenges.”

Kumar has worked at companies that rank in the top 10 of the annual Fortune 500 list and large universities, like Rutgers and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When he arrived at Northeastern, the pandemic immediately highlighted issues for his office: none of the school’s business processes were designed for remote work, they were all on paper; there was no official University policy for remote work; the infrastructure didn’t easily support a shift to remote work.

Yet, Kumar had been drawn to Northeastern by President Gloria J. Gibson’s vision for the University: a student-centric, service-oriented institution where everyone can make a difference in the lives of the students, faculty, staff and beyond. That vision ultimately shaped the University’s response to COVID-19.

“The goal of my office immediately became to get through the pandemic without laying off any employees,” Kumar said.

This would, no doubt, be a challenge. There had been a steady decline in enrollment for the past decade, causing University structural deficits. This led to the University repeatedly receiving credit rating downgrades.

“Achieving savings through refinancing, and balancing a budget with a continuous structural deficit, without laying anyone off, was a huge, huge challenge for the entire Finance and Administration team,” Kumar said. Despite that and other challenges, Kumar said the University was able to embrace operating from a risk-averse mode to a calculative risk-embracing mode. In the process, he was able to help the University establish the NEIU For You scholarship, which covers the cost of tuition for undergraduate students who meet certain criteria.

“First-time, full-time enrollment increased by over 58 percent from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023,” Kumar said. “A large component of that success could be directly attributed to the NEIU For You scholarship program which opens the door to higher education for those who might not be able to pursue a degree without personal and financial hardship.”

Through investments from the State of Illinois and federal grant funding, the Office of Finance and Administration, in partnership with other University offices, are implementing a number of new technologies to enhance both the student and employee experience at Northeastern. Some of the projects include implementing Workday, a new software system to assist in human resource management; Slate, a customer relationship management platform that is being used to better communicate with prospective students and their families; and Degree Works, an academic planning tool which helps advisors guide students to complete their degrees on time. There will also be a new e-procurement system to increase efficiencies in compliance in business transactions and expand the University’s capacity to participate in the State of Illinois’s business enterprise program.

“Upgrading our technologies will help bring us up to par with other universities in Illinois and across the country,” Kumar said.

The State and federal pandemic relief funds, along with strengthening the University’s balance sheet, helped Northeastern receive credit upgrades from Moody’s Investors Service in 2021 and 2022, marking a significant turnaround in Northeastern’s financial outlook.

“Moody's upgraded the University by a total of four notches since 2021,” Kumar said. “When a credit rating agency tells you you have been doing a great job, you know you really are doing a great job.”

In spite of all the challenges he’s faced since his arrival, Kumar said he’s thankful to be at Northeastern.

“Working at Northeastern has been an amazing opportunity thus far,” Kumar said. “President Gibson and the cabinet have worked together on solving a lot of issues, but there is always more to be done.”

In her 13 months as Northeastern's inaugural Vice modernized the University’s enrollment process for prospective students leading to a remarkable increase in applications and intent to enroll for Fall 2023.

When she arrived on campus in January 2022, the COVID-19 catastrophe was largely in the past. Unfortunately, a crisis still existed in Enrollment Management. The pandemic had deepened what was already a troubling downward trend in enrollment. On top of that, key leadership positions under her office’s oversight were unfilled: registrar, director of undergraduate admissions, director of graduate admissions, and the associate vice president for student success and retention. Her first order of business was to fill those vacancies. “You have to have the staffing addressed first, then the technology, and the plan creation and tracking,” Buster-Williams said.

With new leadership in place, Buster-Williams shifted her focus to moving the University from a paper-based enrollment system to a completely online system. When she started at Northeastern, the school was in the middle of adopting the customer relationship management (CRM) Slate but hadn’t finalized the process. The University still needed to implement the Common Application for undergraduates, too. “My role was to bring some of these projects across the finish line,” Buster-Williams said.

Initially, Northeastern rolled out Slate without the component that allows students to see their total financial aid package. Buster-Williams knew Slate’s financial aid portal would be necessary for applicants. “This is significant because one of the things that NEIU implemented was a need-based scholarship called NEIU For You,” Buster-Williams said. “… This particular scholarship is a gap filler. But the challenge, because of the type of scholarship it is, without this Slate portal, the students couldn’t see their gap. We were awarding it to them, but they couldn’t see it. So that may not seem like a big thing, but financial aid is so critical for students and families.” Students can now log into the portal and see their complete financial aid package. “Not just your federal grants, your state grants, but you’re also going to be able to see this top-up award that we’re going to award you. They weren’t able to see it without that portal.”

Buster-Williams said rolling out new software that provided robust communications to students was a best practice, but she also had to ensure her office established other best practices. “There had been no written plans before, there had been no written tactical plans, and that is the best practice,” she said. Then she had to educate the campus community on the difference between a strategic enrollment plan – a five-year down-the-road plan – and a tactical, short-range plan. “You need both. You kind of have to think fast and slow.” Another best practice Buster-Williams enacted was creating a predictive model to determine the incoming class of students. Working with one of the analysts at the University, she said they pulled all of Northeastern's historical data and ran a regression analysis. “We can see the students. What are the characteristics or the variables of students who have enrolled historically? Then how do you line that up with who we have in our current pool? That is a best practice to use some predictive models to try to gauge your class early on,” Buster-Williams said. Her office used the model to guide their activity and reach their goals, noting, “Without a predictive model, it’s harder to know and to make the necessary adjustments.”

Buster-Williams attributed the significant increases in applications and intent to enroll to the changes she was able to make. Still, she noted that when schools start using the Common Application, there’s usually an uptick in applications and acceptances. However, Northeastern’s successful enrollment numbers are not entirely based on the Common Application. “I think [students] heard from us quicker,” she said. “They were able to see their financial aid right away. I would attribute that increase more to our efficiencies and things that we’ve put in place, as opposed to just it being all a result of the Common App.”

She praised President Gibson for assembling a solid team of leaders and said she would miss the president and cabinet colleagues. “I was really drawn to President Gibson’s vision in the sense that she knew she would need a strong team [for the institution] to come out of the pandemic,” BusterWilliams said. I really admired her awareness of how difficult the challenge was going to be and the understanding that she really needed some experts to address the situation. … She had to really pull us through a pretty awful time.”

Buster-Williams said she felt good about the infrastructure pieces her office put in place and hoped the next vice president could pick up where she left off. “It’s like a baton. You pass the baton onto the next person, and hopefully, that person will carry it forward, continue the work, build upon it. Enrollment has changed so dramatically. What we used to do in prior years, we can’t do anymore. Most people have come to realize that you have to be paperless. Kids want a response this fast,” she said, snapping her fingers. “Any of the stuff we used to do, forget about it. It’s extremely competitive.”

As colleges and universities vie for the attention of prospective students, Buster-Williams said NEIU’s greatest strength was its mission, that “It’s a regional public university, it’s a Hispanic-Serving Institution, and its strength is its roots in the community and its longevity.” She said future enrollment goals should capitalize on Northeastern’s reputation and reach beyond communities that already know the school well. “I think going forward the brand needs to broaden. We can’t be such a secret outside of those communities that know us best.”

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Terry C. Mena gave credit to Northeastern students for maintaining the University’s energy throughout the remote learning and working period, as well as revitalizing in-person activities as quickly and safely as possible.

“There’s no surprise when I say this: It starts with students,” Mena said. “They were asking to have more opportunities to be engaged in the safest ways possible and we owed it to them to do just that.”

Mena joined the administration in February 2021. Not long after he arrived on campus, students approached him about planning a concert featuring the Puerto Rican rapper and global superstar Bad Bunny. While things didn’t work out to bring Bad Bunny to the University (at least not yet), Mena and students booked the trailblazing reggaeton artist Ivy Queen for Fall Fest 2022.

“We had well over a thousand people participate in Fall Fest and attend the concert,” Mena said. “It was quite an accomplishment to get Ivy Queen to perform for our students.”

The concert coincided with NEIU Weekend, which is organized by the Office of Alumni Relations. Throughout the weekend, current students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members were able to engage in a number of events.

"University events are really essential," Mena said. "They energize our community and are important to help create a sense of belonging."

Mena oversees many aspects of the student experience at Northeastern, Student Leadership Development; Career Development; Student Counseling Services; Student Health Services; Student Union, Event and Conference Services; Student Disability Services; Campus Recreation; Undocumented Resources and Student Care; TRIO Student Support Services; Student Conduct and several areas of Enrollment Management. He also works closely with American Campus Communities to oversee The Nest, Northeastern’s student housing. Last fall, The Nest saw a record 92 percent occupancy rate. He expects a similar occupancy rate for Fall 2023 if enrollment goals are met. This is, in part, thanks to housing scholarships such as Living Learning Communities (LLCs).

“I’m excited to see the progress that has taken place at The Nest,” Mena said. “Through our Living Learning Communities, we are helping students apply what they learn through their courses in new ways. Even if students aren’t involved in LLCs, students living at The Nest are learning about themselves and their roommates, share a living space, and learn to cook, negotiate and mediate conflict. These essential skills complement what students learn in the classroom.”

Mena’s introduction to student leadership and campus involvement began as an undergraduate and has influenced, if not defined, his academic career. He said he was very involved in campus life as a student and, through guidance and mentorship, he was able to continue his education, earning a master’s degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Florida Atlantic University. He hopes to provide opportunities, like the ones he had, to Northeastern students.

“I am passionate about the work of helping young people find their pathways in higher education,” Mena said. “We have to ensure students are involved in the process of their own experience. They should be involved in our committees, in our searches for new employees and on different councils and groups that provide governance to the community. Students must have a voice on campus, and I am committed to making that happen.”

University General Councel G.A. Finch has had a legal career lined with unique opportunities coupled with fortuitous events.

He grew up in Camarillo, California, about an hour north of Los Angeles. He attended the Commonwealth School, a co-ed independent day school in Boston. From there, he went to Amherst College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Law school at the University of Michigan brought him to the Midwest. A clerkship with a federal judge brought him to Chicago.

Finch has had many professional achievements in the public and private sectors. As deputy planning commissioner for the City of Chicago, he led the redevelopment and revitalization of the city’s North Loop and South Loop districts in the late 1980s. He was general counsel to the Chicago Housing Authority under Mayor Richard M. Daley. He also helped integrate the private law firm space. He was the first African American to be named co-managing partner of Chicago’s Querrey & Harrow law firm. He credits his family’s “high regard for education” as inspiration for serving as a member of education boards and coming to Northeastern.

“My family always viewed education as a ticket to upward economic mobility for everybody, especially for minorities and African Americans,” Finch said. “Maybe some people are into the latest baseball scores, but we’d be interested in running out and getting the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges.”

When he was asked to take on the role of lead counsel at Northeastern in September 2021, he didn’t hesitate.

“Northeastern has provided incredible opportunities for students who might not otherwise have a chance to go to college,” Finch said. “The fit was great, and the timing was great. I felt that this was an opportunity for me to make a contribution.”

Today, his work entails handling virtually every legal aspect facing the University, from contracts, leases and employment claims to intellectual property issues. His team includes Director of Equal Opportunity, Title IX and Ethics Natalie Brouwer Potts and Business Operations Manager Karl Voigt, who also serves as the University’s policy coordinator and assistant secretary to the Board of Trustees. Finch said their dedication to the University supports his work and he’s grateful to them for all they do.

“I like to think that we are a small but mighty team,” Finch said. “I’m very, very proud of the team spirit we have developed and this idea that we’re going to work together and figure out ways to get the job done, even if it’s difficult on us personally. We’re going to do whatever is necessary.”