The Office of the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer is responsible for developing and overseeing the budget process; financial planning, analysis and reporting; finance, treasury and accounting operations; and procurement for the University of Florida.
Chris Cowen, UF senior vice president and chief financial officer, serves as an institutional catalyst for stimulating sound financial management practices throughout the enterprise, including the university’s academic, research, UF Health and direct-support organizations.
In his 30-year career in investment banking, most recently as managing director and head of the higher education finance groups at Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, Cowen served many of the nation’s public and private comprehensive research universities. He regularly speaks and writes about issues pertaining to higher education finance.
Cowen serves on the boards of UF Health Shands, the UF Athletic Association, the UF Foundation, the UF Research Foundation and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
Our office is focused on developing initiatives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative processes and to support and promote the strategic goals and initiatives of the university.
To help departments and units achieve these goals we strive to:
Provide comprehensive, effective “business partnering” in all financial responsibilities
Provide assistance and leadership for all financial professionals at UF and establish a collaboration with those professionals to further their continued professional development
Be a thought leader in representing UF in the higher education industry and at the State and local levels
