As purse strings are drawn tighter at UNM, Steve Beffort’s position of vice president of Institution Support Services, which he has held for 2 1/2 years, will be eliminated.
Beffort started his career at the Anderson School of Management and after eight years of moving up, he will be retiring from the empire he has helped build.
“I think most rewarding has been all of the people, all the students, and being able to actually provide physical facilities to support the great programs here at the University,” he said. “Over the last seven years that I have been involved in this, we have built almost $1 billion worth of buildings.”
University spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said the vice president position, created in 2007, will be eliminated for the foreseeable future due to the University’s economic situation.
“Determinations of this magnitude are made on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “In this case, the action was economically driven.”
McKinsey said Executive Vice President for Administration David Harris, President David Schmidly and the Board of Regents all signed off on positions that can be left unfilled to save money.
According to the UNM Budget Office, the elimination of this position will save the University $174,600.
Beffort’s salary of $193,800, as listed in the UNM Salaries Book, has traditionally been funded through the I&G pool, McKinsey said.
Schmidly announced last week that he will be eliminating two vice president positions, saving the University about $431,500.
However, Raymond Sanchez, president of the Board of Regents, said earlier this year that cutting out VP salaries would not largely address the University’s fiscal issues.
“I think, if you look at the total amount, we have about a $2 billion budget, but if you look at salaries, the overall percentage going to administrative salaries is very, very small,” he said.
Sanchez said that though the money saved would help, overall it would have little affect on the budget.
“It is money that could help maybe some scholarships and stuff,” he said. “But the overall picture — it is not going to be that large of an impact.”
McKinsey said Institutional Support Services will continue to report to Harris. However, the daily operations and responsibilities have not been finalized.
Harris said in a press release that Beffort would continue working quarter-time for the University to aid in the transition and work on specific projects.
Beffort said he will be focusing his time on operations of Lobo Energy Inc., Lobo Development Inc. and UNM’s presence at Mesa del Sol.
“Those three things are things that are currently part of our responsibility but haven’t had as much attention as maybe we should be giving them,” he said. “My part time will be focused on that.”
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Harris said he is glad to have Beffort continuing with UNM even if only as part time.
“We’re fortunate to have someone of his caliber agree to continue on in this capacity and to mentor the young managers who will fill his role,” he said.
