The Students Association executive cabinet has hired Jace Pimentel as chief financial officer after the resignation of Alex Blanchet.
Executive president Danny Burke said five days after Blanchet resigned, the cabinet chose Jace Pimentel, senior finance and political science major from Abilene, to replace him. Blanchet had called executive treasurer Ruhika Roy a few weeks ago and said he intended to resign, said Burke, senior marketing major from Seymour, Indiana. Blanchet, a senior financial management major from McKinney, had served as the chief financial officer last year and was rehired for the position again in May. Burke said Blanchet resigned because he believed he wouldn’t be the best fit for the job.
The cabinet then worked to fill the position and considered Pimentel because he had previously applied both for the positions of executive treasurer and chief financial officer last spring. His previous applications gave the cabinet the advantage of having already interviewed him twice.
“Several things when we were looking for both treasurer and CFO — definitely somebody who could do the budget and the expense report,” Burke said, “but I definitely also wanted somebody with the ability to stand up in front of Congress and effectively communicate and justify the decisions that were made. People freak out about money, and so being able to explicitly say what we need to say and make sense, was a big deal. I think Jace will do phenomenal at that.”
Jace Pimentel, 2017-18 SA chief financial officer
Pimentel served as the Galaxy men’s social club treasurer last year and worked in facilities and campus management for three years. He said he wanted the SA position so he could do what he enjoys and work with close friends. He said he plans to pursue business or law school after graduation.
“I’m very personable, and I’m able to connect with people, especially in professional ways, I feel,” Pimentel said.
The chief financial officer helps the executive treasurer create the SA budget, allocate funds to student groups, and file expense reports throughout the year. To make the process of allocating funds more efficient, executive treasurer Roy, a senior engineering and political science major from Toronto, Canada, created a computer program that will use data about each student organization and last year’s budget to allocate funds more efficiently.
“Yeah, we’re making it efficient, and making it so there’s no more error and no more waste,” Roy said, “but we also need to make sure it doesn’t happen ever again. So creating a firm foundation for other offices of treasury to come in and make sure they know what they’re doing.”
SA will allocate funds to student organizations for the fall semester in September.
