Vice Chancellor for Administrative & Business Services

I am pleased to announce that Ronald Cortez is UCI’s new vice chancellor for administrative & business services, effective Feb. 13, 2017.

Currently, Ron serves as vice president of administration & finance and chief financial officer at San Francisco State University, where he provides strategic direction for the campus’s business functions, including safety & risk management, physical planning & development, design & construction, fiscal affairs, budget, information technology and human resources. From 2008 to 2013, he was the associate vice chancellor for administrative services at UC Santa Barbara, where he oversaw departments including information technology, accounting, police, auditing, human resources and environmental health & safety. Prior to his role at UCSB, he was deputy county executive officer for Santa Barbara County. He also is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration from San Jose State University, Ron earned a J.D. at the Santa Barbara College of Law and master’s degrees in organizational management and public administration at Fielding Graduate University and Northern Michigan University, respectively.

He brings a wealth of experience in the public sector, such as managing multimillion-dollar budgets and spearheading innovative ideas to streamline large-scale operations and improve efficiency. I am confident Ron will play a major role in UCI’s ascendance as a globally preeminent university by ensuring that daily business operations – from administrative policies and procedures to design and construction services – are strategically serving our campus, community and state.

I am grateful to the search committee and its chair, Vice Chancellor for Planning & Budget Meredith Michaels, for their dedicated efforts and vital contributions to the search process. My personal thanks, along with the gratitude of the entire university, are extended to Wendell Brase, who has so ably served for 25 years as our vice chancellor for administrative & business services and will remain in this position until February. Wendell is the architect of UCI’s national leadership in sustainability and environmental best practices, and I am delighted that the campus will continue to benefit as he assumes his new role as associate chancellor for sustainability.

We look forward to Vice Chancellor Cortez’s becoming a member of the Anteater family. Please join me in welcoming him to UCI.

Chancellor Howard Gillman