Brett Powell of Henderson State University (Finalist: Education CFO)

Brett Powell • CFO & Vice President for Finance & Administration | Henderson State University | Arkadelphia

Brett Powell, vice president for finance and administration and CFO at Henderson State University, is known for his innovative leadership in strategic planning and budgeting.

As director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education from February 2015 to August 2016, he helped develop the framework for the outcomes-based education funding model that places less emphasis on student enrollment and provides institutions more funding for achieving education goals.

In September, he presented a paper on applying an outcomes model at the institution level at the annual planning and budgeting conference of the National Association of College & University Business Officers in San Diego.

“I met with several national experts and they said I was really onto something,” he said, adding that he hopes to collaborate with them in the future on the issue.

“In this model we can build in an outcomes focus on the way we allocate funds so that we are getting resources into the right places so that we can make sure that students have a better chance of being successful and a better chance of finishing a degree,” Powell said.

During his career in higher education, Powell, 50, has served as vice president for administrative services at Ouachita Baptist University, associate vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and director of financial services at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.

Powell is treasurer of Forward Arkansas and is board president of the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault. He also is a board member of the Gold Key International Society and serves with the Southern Association of College & University Business Officers as a member of the small institution committee and chair of the benchmarking committee.

Don’t put the cart before the horse, Powell said, is his work philosophy. “Don’t let money drive what you do. Let your mission determine where your funds should come from and where they should go.”