From the Rockies to the Blue Ridge: New Director of Payroll Services at UVA

Paul Grisdale has been very busy since joining the UVAFinance Team as Director of Payroll Services on September 25th. During his first week on board, he has spent much of his time meeting people and learning more about his stakeholders and their unique needs as the University and the Health System take up payroll as a shared process.

In his new role, Grisdale will lead the ONE Payroll Services Team, which will encompass UVA’s academic division, the medical center, and the physicians group.

Grisdale, a Detroit-area native, comes to UVA from Colorado, where he managed payroll in both the Community College System and Colorado State University. 

Paul Grisdale,
Director of Payroll Services

He is no stranger to massive organizational change.

“Most of my career has been implementing new systems and coming up with best practices,” he said.

Grisdale has led many projects involving the streamlining of processes and collaborative, centralized work. When he looks back at his career so far, he’s most proud of times he’s been able to help build things that didn’t exist before – for instance, a central payroll office for Community Colleges of Colorado.

The office he established delivered great service to all 14 entities in the system and leveraged technology to give employees access to things they’d never had before, such as reporting.

Complicating this particular change was the fact that those 14 schools in the Community College system had very different cultures: some were in little farming towns, and some were in urban areas. Grisdale found that any work he could do that helped him to understand those cultural differences and individual needs was very worthwhile, and he’s been applying that principle to his new role at UVA.

“I’ve made it a priority to be out and about, learning what each area is doing now and who their audiences are, and finding out what the needs are,” he said.

Grisdale was attracted to UVA because he saw a unique opportunity to use what he’s learned about organization-wide change, working on teams, and delivering great customer service: “UVA is a world-renowned University, seeking to provide an equally great payroll and HR service. I want to be part of that.”

He added that it’s exciting to get to leverage not only new technology but also the knowledge of experts in the three different areas at UVA, to find better ways to deliver payroll to all employees.

Grisdale will soon be joined in Virginia by his wife Rebecca and their three children, all of whom are excited about their new home. He acknowledges that it’s quite a change. “Colorado is beautiful, but in Colorado, you can drive for hours and you’re still most likely in Colorado. Here, there’s so much to see, and so many interesting things to do,” he said.

An avid fly fisherman, Grisdale said he looks forward to exploring what that hobby is like in his new home.

Amidst all the change that has been a part of his professional life, Grisdale says one thing has remained true: “I have had great teams in all of my endeavors, and we have that at UVA, too. There’s always ups and downs, but with a great team, you can achieve so much.”

Sponsored Programs Welcomes Matt Winter, Grants and Contracts Assistant

Matt Winter recently joined the Sponsored Programs team as a Grants and Contracts Assistant, working on the pre-award side. Winter is a two-time UVA grad, with a M. Ed. in Higher Education and a B. A. in History. He also studied Secondary Education at the University of Alberta in Canada. Winter became interested in sponsored programs through graduate internships at the Curry School and UVA’s radio station, WTJU. His diverse background includes experience teaching in the public school system, as well as working with local publishing firms. Winter enjoys playing soccer, being outdoors, and following UVA Athletics.

UVAFinance welcomes new Assistant Vice President of Financial Operations

Jerry Burke likes to build things: new crown molding in his son’s house, a new deck and fence for his own home. He enjoys the work he puts in crafting these projects, and seeing the resulting transformation once the job is complete.

As the new Assistant Vice President for Financial Operations in UVAFinance, Burke will be in charge of building a robust and modern internal controls system and transforming core business practices at the University.

The AVP for Financial Operations itself represents a transformation; during a late-2016 search for a new Controller, UVAFinance leadership and the search team realized that the process and system changes coming up were going to require something slightly different than the traditional role entailed.

In this new role, Burke has oversight of accounting, financial reporting, procurement, payroll, and tax and accounts receivable. The alignment of these functions will allow for more responsive service to UVAFinance stakeholders, and allow UVAFinance to tackle upcoming changes with more speed and ease.

Most recently the Chief Financial Officer at Bloomberg Tradebook and Bloomberg Capital Markets, Burke brings deep experience in financial operations, internal controls and financial reporting. He has implemented financial systems and led a chart of accounts redesign, both of which will be required in UVAFinance in the near future. A new internal control framework, standardized and documented business practices, migration of payroll to Ufirst, and, inevitably, a new finance system are also on the horizon for UVAFinance.

“Jerry’s background and skillset will allow him to lead this change,” said Melody Bianchetto, Vice President for Finance.

“He has the specialized knowledge necessary to ensure success; he can help us handle the changes that are coming while keeping us on track with our mission and core values,” she said.

With a 30 year career in financial services based in Manhattan, Burke’s choice to work in academia in Charlottesville might seem potentially jarring, but he is philosophical about it.

First, he points out that he commuted to his work in the city, while he and his wife lived in small-town New Jersey, bringing up three children, now grown.

As for the shift from business to academics, he said, “This is a unique opportunity for me to leverage 80 to 90% of my background while working on subject matter that’s completely different.”

“It’s sort of like being a carpenter who builds houses, but one day you wake up and decide to make fine furniture. You can leverage a lot of your skills and do something new that interests you. UVA’s mission is something I want to be a part of.”

Burke looks forward to working collaboratively with University and school financial leaders, as well as those in financial roles at the UVA Medical Center, UVA’s College at Wise, and our affiliated foundations.

Building partnerships across the University will be a big priority for Burke: “We want to make sure we’re providing people with the information they need to make decisions and understand trends, and help them forecast the future as accurately as possible,” he said.

“We’re all part of the same team,” he commented.

“I look forward to building up our team and moving us forward quickly and intelligently during a period of many changes.”

New Senior Accountant in Sponsored Programs Post Award

Danial Weinstein has joined the team in Sponsored Programs as a Senior Accountant in Post Award. In this role, he will be the lead for the non-School of Medicine Post Award Financial Management Team, and will manage his own portfolio of awards for the School of Engineering.

Weinstein recently joined OSP

Weinstein has worked with the Defense Contract Audit Agency in Los Angeles for the past eight years. He has performed multiple audits of federal contracts and is familiar with regulations, policies and procedures applicable to those contracts. He has a BS in Business Administration as well as a Level 2 Department of Defense Financial Management Certification.

“This role is an opportunity for me to grow professionally. The world of contract auditing is highly specific, and while it’s very interesting, it doesn’t lend itself to much accounting experience,” said Weinstein, adding that his roots in small-town central Florida had him looking for opportunities in smaller cities.

Weinstein looks forward to helping shape the positive structural and cultural changes ongoing in Sponsored Programs.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing baseball and softball and volunteering as a Little League umpire, in addition to reading and experimenting in the kitchen.

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Valerie Clem joins Student Financial Services

Valerie Clem has joined Student Financial Services as Assistant Director of Athletic Financial Aid. Previously with Virginia Commonwealth University as an Athletics and Veterans Certification Coordinator, Clem has worked in financial aid for over ten years.

She has a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from VCU and a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from Drexel University and is currently writing her dissertation for a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Nebraska. 

As a first generation college student herself, Clem says she enjoys helping families understand the financial aid process and helping students achieve their academic goals. An avid fan of professional wrestling, Clem has attended WrestleMania seven times.

UVAFinance welcomes new Director of Financial Reporting

UVAFinance is pleased to welcome Thomas Schneeberger to Financial Operations as Director of Financial Reporting. In this role, he will be responsible for the year-end close, including coordination with State Auditors, UVAFinance, and Foundations, the preparation of the University’s annual and quarterly financial reports, and generally stewarding the University’s financial system. 

Thomas Schneeberger

Schneeberger most recently served as the Assistant Director of Financial Reporting and Management Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but his career path covered many miles prior to that role.

Schneeberger’s career in finance began with a degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration in Austria, and shortly thereafter brought him stateside for a role with the City of Lexington in North Carolina after a year in Puerto Rico, where he married his wife Irela.

After serving as the Lexington’s Senior Accountant and then Financial Services Manager, Schneeberger decided to pursue his Master in Accounting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and subsequent CPA licensure, which in turn led to a position with Ernst & Young as an auditor. For Ernst & Young, Schneeberger worked in Raleigh and the Cayman Islands, where he predominantly focused on the financial services industry. Eventually, he sought to leave the sphere of public accounting in favor of working in higher education.

Since his arrival at UVA early this May, he has been completing training in Oracle and other finance modules, as well as prepping the financial report for next year, assessing the impact of new standards from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and generally getting acquainted with UVA.

“I’m wrapping my head around the university structure, getting to know the players and stakeholders involved, and beginning to get in and get my hands dirty,” Schneeberger said.

He said he has found the transition from UNC to UVA to be positive.

“UVA is certainly a school with a great reputation, and Charlottesville is a nice town with a lot going on,” he commented, adding that he and his wife have already found some favorite places among Charlottesville’s many offerings, and they both look forward to enjoying outdoor activities, especially those involving water.

Schneeberger is a surfer, avid swimmer, and lover of water sports. His sports acumen doesn’t stop there; he was also somewhat of a basketball star in college, playing in a national semi-professional league in Austria.

Schneeberger’s enthusiasm for his new role is due especially to his enjoyment of working in higher education.

“As a University, we don’t just impact our direct customers – we do outreach in the community, we perform research, and we affect the world. We do a lot of good things here, and when you’re in a financial reporting role, you see the overall perspective and get to report on all of it.”

New Faces in UVAFinance

Managerial Reporting Welcomes Matt Bonham

The Managerial Reporting Project is pleased to welcome Matt Bonham in the role of Communications Lead.  Matt joins UVA after ten-plus years of creative work in commercial photography, content writing, editing, marketing, photojournalism, and project management. Prior to pulling his restored vintage Airstream travel trailer to Charlottesville, he lived and worked in the Roanoke area, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Roanoke College and his MBA from Averett University. He is excited to join UVAFinance and the MRP team as a communicator.  Outside of the office, Matt enjoys music, reading, writing, hiking, biking, camping, and exploring outdoors as much as possible - even though the majority of that time is currently spent on another money pit - building an adventure van.

Elizabeth Wilson Joins Sponsored Programs

Elizabeth DeVilbiss Wilson recently joined the Sponsored Programs team as a Grants and Contracts Assistant.  In this role, she will create new awards, projects, and budgets in the system, and support grant administrators and Principal Investigators.  Wilson brings a background that spans work at both nonprofit organizations and The U.S. Department of State, as well as a variety of roles related to international issues.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Spanish and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from James Madison University.  In 2015 she was selected as the Frasure-Kruzel-Drew Memorial Fellow, where she performed grants and contracts management and processing for conventional weapons destruction programs around the world.   Wilson looks forward to using her experiences to contribute to the overall goals of the Office of Sponsored Programs, and to learning more about the breadth and depth of research being done at UVA.