NIU President Doug Baker has named an interim chief financial officer to oversee the university’s financial and budget matters while the university undertakes a national search for a CFO.

Baker chose Nancy Suttenfield for the newly created position, where she’ll be responsible for oversight of NIU’s accounting, controller, budget and institutional research functions.

“Nancy is an innovative and accomplished chief financial officer with a blend of diverse management experiences in both public and private institutions,” Baker said, according to NIU Today. “She has a strong record of transparency, inclusiveness and service orientation, and her collaborative leadership style is very well regarded.”

Suttenfield will work closely with Steven Cunningham, vice president of administration, who recently served as acting executive vice president for Business and Finance and was instrumental in streamlining operations.

“I look forward to assisting Nancy in the transition of these important responsibilities,” Cunningham said, according to NIU Today. “NIU operates in an increasingly complex budgetary and regulatory environment, and given the state’s fiscal context, it is important to operate in an efficient manner to align resources in support of our university mission. This is one of President Baker’s major objectives — to align the budget process with strategic priorities.”

In her past positions, Suttenfield was responsible for financial strategy and planning, budget development and execution, resource management, systems and process enhancement.

“I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues in the coming months as part of NIU’s strong leadership team,” Suttenfield said, according to NIU Today. “I love new challenges and managing change, so I believe this is going to be a great fit.”