UNT System

JANET WALDRON
Vice Chancellor for Finance

Janet Waldron has more than 30 years of experience leading strategic business administration and operations in highly complex organizations. She has had key involvement in financial management and budgeting, information technology, human resource management and employee relations, and capital facilities management. She was with the University of Maine since 2003 and spent the eight years prior as the State of Maine’s chief financial officer after more than 15 years working within the government offices for the State of Maine.

As Vice Chancellor for Finance, Waldron oversees system-wide financial planning and analysis, including coordination of the annual institution budgets within the UNT System. She will be responsible for the system offices of Budget, Business Services, Controller, Treasurer and Information Technology. These offices provide centralized, shared services to all UNT System institutions.

Waldron has been elected to the council on business affairs for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities serving as chair in 2013 and 2009. She is a board member for The Harvard Kennedy School New England Alumni Association and a fellow for the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Center among many other appointments.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Hampshire and has studied at Dartmouth College, the University of Maine and Harvard’s Kennedy School.

STAFF

Donna Asher

Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration
Donna.Asher@untsystem.edu, (940) 369-5610, Business Service Center - Denton

Donna Asher is a veteran in higher education administration with nearly 20 years of progressively responsible experience in human resources, fiscal operations, space management and information systems for both academic and administrative areas.  As the Associate Vice Chancellor for Business Services, Asher leads a team of directors administrating a shared services initiative that encompasses the delivery of business services in the areas of purchasing, payment, travel, payroll and human resources.

Additionally, she is leading an on-going evaluation of current and future services to recommend the most appropriate management structure, location of service personnel, degree of central coordination, campus variation, and outsourcing opportunities in order to ensure high quality, cost effective services to each campus and System operating unit.
From 2004 - 2011, Asher served first as UNT’s Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Administrative and Fiscal Services and then as the Vice Provost for Academic Resources. 

She advised the UNT Provost on budgetary, human resource, space management and information system matters. She was also the chief budget officer for a more than $200 million budget and chief academic human resources officer for more than 1,000 full-time equivalent faculty positions and more than 750 full-time equivalent staff positions. Prior to joining the Provost’s office, Asher was Associate Director of UNT Human Resources, a unit that she worked in for more than 13 years.

Asher is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA in human resources management from UNT.  She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Information Science at UNT and is in the final stages of completing that degree. She is the President of the Texas Higher Education Human Resources Association and a member of the Society of Human Resources Management, the Colleges and Universities Professional Organization for Human Resources, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

Rama Dhuwaraha

Associate Vice Chancellor and UNT System Chief Information Officer
Rama.Dhuwarahao@untsystem.edu, (940) 565-2224, Discovery Park

Rama Dhuwaraha is the Chief Technology Officer and interim Chief Information Officer for University of North Texas System. In this role he leads all Information Technology services across the 3 campuses comprising the system. Rama will be working closely with the Vice Chancellor of Finance and the 3 Presidents of the campuses. Rama’s role spans all aspects of information technology — from strategy, planning and budgeting to the day-to-day delivery of services

Rama came to IT Shared Services from serving as the Deputy CIO for Wisconsin Department of Transportation where he had enterprise responsibility for Strategy, Governance, Enterprise Architecture, PMO and Infrastructure. Prior to that he was the Information Management Director at the University of Kentucky and served as the Interim Chief Information Security Officer. Under Mayor Jim Newberry in Lexington, Kentucky Rama served as Lexington’s first Chief Information Officer and Senior Advisor to the mayor where he was responsible for all technology, strategy, planning and execution. As Chief Information Officer of Lexington he received the 2010 Kentucky Digital Government Visionary Award. Rama has also served in the private sector as Director of Business Development and Vice President for an Internet service provider.

Rama has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Kentucky. He has served on the boards of Bluegrass Tomorrow, Lexington Sister Cities and IN2LEX, an organization that helps innovators and entrepreneurs. He also served on the Lexington Mayor’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act task force in the areas of E-Health and Technology. He was Vice Chairman of the Kentucky Internet Service Provider Association.

Luis Lewin

Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources
Luis.Lewin@untsystem.edu, (817) 735-5097, UNTHSC, 3440 Camp Bowie Blvd., Building AA2, Fort Worth 76107

As Associate Vice Chancellor, Lewin is responsible for operations and strategic direction for human resources services at UNT System administration, UNT, UNT Health Science Center, UNT Dallas and UNT Dallas College of Law.

He provides direction, supervision and strategic planning in all human resources areas, including benefits, compensation, employment, employee relations, technology, records management, recruitment, training and leadership development. He directs Human Resources Information Services, Equal Opportunity, Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards and campus-located Human Resources services.

Lewin, who joined the UNT System in 2014, has extensive experience in academic and private sector areas. He previously was vice president of Human Resources at Purdue University and chief human resources officer at Ohio University. He was chair of Ohio’s Human Resources Inter-University Council, which represented 14 universities. He also was senior vice president of corporate human resources for the Chicago-based Tribune Co. media, entertainment, newspaper and broadcast properties.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, psychology and Spanish from Wilmington College and a master’s degree in modern languages from Ohio University.

James Mauldin

Associate Vice Chancellor for Treasury
James.Mauldin@untsystem.edu, (214) 243-1768, UNT System Building 428

James Mauldin joined the UNT System in early 2015 as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Treasury. He is responsible for coordinating the functions of banking, investments, and debt across the organization. Prior to joining the System, James served in the local government sector for seven years, at the City of Fort Worth as Assistant Director of Finance and the City of Cedar Hill as Director of Finance/CFO. Service in both operations and finance in the private sector, however, is where he got his career started, including industries such as telecom, banking, manufacturing, and logistics. In his “down time” James has taught Finance as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University since 2009.

James earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA in Finance from DBU. He holds a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) designation and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Candidate. He is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals, Governmental Finance Officers Association of Texas, and Mensa.

Paige Smith

Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget
Paige.Smith@untsystem.edu, (214) 752-5540, UNT System Building 752

Paige Smith joined UNT System in Spring 2015, as Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget. She provides leadership and strategic planning in system-wide budgeting and resource management.  She is certified as both a public accountant and an internal auditor and has over 24 years of accounting, auditing, and grant management experience in Texas public higher education from Sam Houston State University (SHSU).

During her employment at SHSU, Paige served in multiple roles, including Associate Vice President for Financial Services, Controller, Director of Administrative Accounting, Director of Contract and Grant Administration, and Director of Internal Audit.  Her career progression exemplifies her effectiveness in meeting growing expectations and responding to organizational changes and needs.

Working collaboratively with senior financial leadership including the Chief Financial Officers, Budget Officers, Controllers, Treasurer, and other institutional leadership, Paige manages the system-wide budget planning, forecasting, process, structure, and allocations. She helps to ensure accurate, timely and sound financial data and reports are prepared for the Board of Regents and executives across the UNT System.

Paige received her Master of Business Administration in Accounting and her Bachelor of Business Administration in General Business, both from Sam Houston State University.

Daniel Stephens

Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Controller
Daniel.Stephens@untsystem.edu, (940) 369-5551, Business Service Center - Denton

Daniel Stephens joined the UNT System on May 18th as the associate vice chancellor for finance and controller and will report to the vice chancellor for finance. In this role, he will provide leadership and strategic direction to the UNT System’s accounting, financial reporting, external audit, internal financial controls, payments, and payroll operations as well as the support centers for UNT, UNT Health Science Center and UNT Dallas. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Dan has more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in both public higher education and private industry in the areas of accounting, auditing, budgeting, finance, financial reporting, information systems, investment management, debt management financing, short and long-term capital planning, taxation, strategic financial planning, and treasury.

This diverse range of experience and skills will benefit the newly formed UNT System controller office and provide the necessary leadership and direction to aid in the transformation of business practices and policies insuring greater accuracy, integrity and accountability in financial recordkeeping and reporting.

Susan Sherman

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Financial Planning and Policy
Susan.Sherman@untsystem.edu, (214) 752-5542, UNT System Building 733

As Assistant Vice Chancellor for Financial Planning and Policy, Sherman works to strengthen the financial reporting and revenue/expenditure analyses of the System, align System practices with State appropriations and expenditures, and help the presidents advance the strategic needs of each individual University.

In her role at University of Texas System, Sherman was responsible for developing strategies to maximize State funding and oversaw the strategic management of the State budget process and fiscal policy implementation for the 15 institutions and administration offices in UTS.  She also coordinated System institutions’ responses for financial reports and information from State regulatory and legislative agencies.

Prior to joining UTS in 2010, Sherman spent six years as a budget analyst for the Legislative Budget Board where she led the budget-writing process for institutions of higher education at Senate Finance Committee and State Appropriations Committee hearings on the General Appropriations Act.  She analyzed institutions’ legislative funding requests and performance and developed budget recommendations totaling $3 billion for 38 public universities.  She also served as a legislative assistant to State Senator Kyle Janek from 2001 to 2004.

Sherman is a member of the Society for College and University Planning and the Texas Association of State Senior College and University Business Officers.  She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Luke Lybrand

Treasury Manager
Luke.Lybrand@untsystem.edu, (214) 243-1798, UNT System Building 429

Luke Lybrand has a variety of experience in public finance with a concentration on debt management. He worked at the City of Richardson in the City Manager’s Office assisting departments on numerous projects. Following that he worked for Moody’s Investors Service for three years as a credit ratings analyst with a focus on municipalities in the Southwest. As a ratings analyst, Luke worked on numerous projects to improve ratings consistency, published multiple research pieces, and rated many municipalities across the nation.

Most recently, he worked for Regions Bank as a portfolio management and underwriter. At Regions, Luke structured financings in many different areas of education including private k-12, charter schools, public schools, and public and private universities and colleges.

As Treasury Manager, Luke is responsible for debt management, including long term debt planning and forecasting, assisting in the structuring and issuance process, and post issuance compliance.

Luke is an active volunteer and enjoys serving the community as an impact grant volunteer with United Way of Metro Dallas for the past five years with a focus on improving the education of at-risk students. He also loves serving as a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters North Texas for over 7 years. Luke was born in Bedford, Texas. He attended H.E.B. public schools, received his B.A. in Political Science from Texas A&M University and his Masters of Public Administration from the University of North Texas.

Kerry Romine

Senior Financial Analyst
Kerry.Romine@untsystem.edu, (214) 752-5543, UNT System Building 732

Kerry Romine joined the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance in June 2013. He currently serves as the Financial Analyst for UNT System where he provides data analysis in support of implementing the financial strategy and business plans for the entire UNT System. This includes data retrieval, analysis and reporting for the Vice Chancellor of Finance's Office as well as financial forecasting, modeling and reporting to all levels of the organization and state government agencies. This position is key in preparing system-wide operating budgets as well as the legislative appropriations proposal.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Angelo State University, a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University – Commerce and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Applied Technology and Performance Improvement at UNT.

Don Sabani

Senior Director of Business Process Improvement and Reporting
Don.Sabani@untsystem.edu, (940) 369-5581, Business Service Center - Denton

Don Sabani joined the UNT System in early 2015 as the Senior Director of Business Process Improvement and Reporting.  In his role, he will lead business improvement initiatives and act as a link between the improvement programs and executive leadership.  He is also responsible for promoting Six Sigma initiatives and ensuring that projects are adequately implemented through the creation of successful project teams, driving organizational change management, and ensuring that quality improvement projects are aligned with the organizations objectives and goals.  Don is also an adjunct professor teaching graduate accounting at the University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management.

Don has more than 15 years of industry experience in manufacturing, financial services, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals in various business and strategic capacities. 

Don is a volunteer with the Salvation Army and Presbyterian Hospital System. Don earned undergraduate degrees in Finance, Accounting, and Economics from UNT.  He also holds an MS in Accounting and an MBA, both from UTD.  He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Justin Johnson

Administrative Coordinator
Justin.Johnson@untsystem.edu, (214) 243-1765, UNT System Building 423

Justin joined UNT System in July 2015 as the Administrative Coordinator for both Treasury and Budget. He is responsible for providing administrative support to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Treasury. Prior to joining UNT System, he was an Administrative Clerk for the Health and Human Services Commission for a year. He also worked as an Office Manager for World Finance Corporation for seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University – Commerce.

Guadalupe Montoya

Executive Administrative Assistant
Guadalupe.Montoya@untsystem.edu, (214) 752-5541, UNT System Building 742

Guadalupe provides administrative support to the Vice Chancellor for Finance. Prior to joining UNT System, Guadalupe was Executive Assistant to the General Manager at the Hilton Houston North Hotel where she worked for 23 years.