TACOMA, Wash. – Following an extensive and highly competitive national search, University of Puget Sound has named Kimberly Kvaal executive vice president and chief financial officer effective July 5, 2022. Kvaal comes to Puget Sound from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where she served as vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer leading strategic initiatives and overseeing all aspects of the finance and business functions of the university. She is an outstanding leader with more than 24 years of experience in higher education and has a national reputation for her knowledge of academic business models.
“Dr. Kvaal is a highly respected, inventive, and strategic financial leader with demonstrated excellence in organizational, operational, and portfolio management,” said President Isiaah Crawford. “We are thrilled to have her join Puget Sound and excited about the many contributions she will make to help advance our strategic plan, promote innovation, and lead the strong team we have in place in the division of finance and administration.”
Kvaal holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, an MBA from Regis University, and an EdD in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on increasing organizational capacity for financial sustainability at colleges and universities. She is a highly sought-after commentator and speaker at national organizations, such as the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the Association of Governing Boards. In 2016, NACUBO presented Kvaal with the Daniel D. Robinson Award for outstanding contributions to the field of college and university accounting and reporting. Kvaal served as associate vice president for accounting and business services and a part-time faculty member at the University of San Francisco from 2006 to 2014, and currently teaches in St. Edward’s University Doctorate in Educational Leadership program.
“I am thrilled to be joining the University of Puget Sound at this important juncture in its history,” Kvaal said. “It’s an honor to assist Dr. Crawford as a member of his senior leadership team to steward institutional resources and achieve the exciting vision of the strategic plan. The beautiful campus, talented faculty, high-caliber students, and dedicated staff truly set the university apart from its peers. I cannot wait to become a Logger!”
With a visionary president, a dynamic and dedicated senior leadership team, passionate students, and exceptional faculty and staff, Puget Sound is at a turning point in its 130-year history. Curricular and programmatic innovation is a cornerstone of Puget Sound’s Leadership for Changing World strategic plan, which challenges the university to be bold and forward-looking in the delivery of education and in meeting the needs of current and future generations of students. Kvaal will play a critical role in the execution of the plan from a financial and administrative perspective to ensure the university adheres to its mission to develop students’ capacities for critical analysis, aesthetic appreciation, sound judgment, and apt expression that will sustain a lifetime of intellectual curiosity, active inquiry, and reasoned independence.
About Puget Sound
A nationally ranked residential liberal arts college in Tacoma, Wash., University of Puget Sound enrolls 1,800 undergraduate students from across the country and around the world, as well as 300 graduate students in education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 areas of study. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Luce scholars, notables in the arts and culture, scholars and scientists, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A top producer of Fulbright Scholars, Puget Sound is the only nationally ranked independent liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society.
