Early Reese will be leaving his post as treasurer and chief financial officer of Trinity College to become the United Negro College Fund’s top financial executive.
At Trinity since 2005, Reese will be departing the Hartford college in mid-December to assume the position of executive vice president and chief financial officer at the United Negro College Fund in Fairfax, Va.
“I consider [the College Fund’s] work to be critical,” Reese said. “The fact that minorities get opportunities to receive scholarships and attend college is critical work. To do anything to be part of the success of those colleges, those students and their advancement and development is important.”
The College Fund provides operating funds for 39 colleges, scholarships and internship programs for low-income students.
Ronald Joyce, vice president of advancement at Trinity, has seen the effect of Reese’s presence among Trinity’s executives.
“He’s a very uncommon CFO in that he combines all the right skills you seek from a financial and accounting point of view,” Joyce said. “He’s a pro’s pro.”
While at Trinity, Reese restored $30 million to its capital and building operating reserves.
“He’s given us the right template and the right tools for the future,” Joyce said. “All of those things require diligence.”
Reese came to Trinity with 30 years’ experience at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Philip Morris and the U.S. Olympic Committee. He also served as chairman of Virginia State University’s board of trustees and its finance and audit committee.
“Working in education allows you to give back to the society and community in which you live,” Reese said. “The role is the same, but the motives are different.”
Trinity President James F. Jones Jr. praised Reese as “having easily been the most eminent CFO that Trinity has had.”
“While we are grieved to lose him, there is no place in the country where Reese can effect more change than at the College Fund,” Jones said. “You have to love people enough to let them go, if it’s their calling.”
The college is conducting a national CFO search to replace Reese.
