By Zac Estrada, News Staff
Northeastern University’s Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance Jack McCarthy will step down, effective Jan. 1.
President Joseph Aoun announced McCarthy’s retirement Monday in an email to faculty and staff.
Thomas Nedell, vice president and chief financial officer, will assume McCarthy’s duties next month.
“Jack is a great friend to all students and to [the Student Government Association (SGA)],” SGA President Mike Sabo said Wednesday. “He’s been a pleasure to work with for the two years I’ve worked with him. We wish him the best of luck.”
Sabo said McCarthy pushed for hiring a broader scale of faculty as he navigated Northeastern during the 2008 financial crisis and implemented solutions to issues raised in SGA’s budget priorities survey.
“He’s a huge factor in why Northeastern has risen in the rankings,” Sabo said.
Aoun, in his email, bestowed similar praise on McCarthy’s prowess for keeping Northeastern from being adversely impacted during recent economic turmoil.
“For the past five years, Jack has given Northeastern the benefit of his outstanding blend of financial acumen, managerial skill, depth of experience, and common sense,” Aoun wrote. “Against the backdrop of the most challenging global economy since the 1930s, Jack’s efforts not only kept the university on solid financial footing, but also enabled us to take advantage of the downturn at a time when other universities were retrenching.”
McCarthy has served as senior vice president of administration and finance since January 2007. He succeeded Laurence Mucciolo. Mucciolo was with the university for a decade and oversaw the development of the West Village area and the growth of the endowment from $270 million to $650 million by the time he left.
At Northeastern, McCarthy led the restructuring of the university’s debt and helped it achieve a higher bond rating, according to Aoun’s email.
Sabo said McCarthy was a strong advocate of the Double Husky Scholarship program. Enacted this year, it offers undergraduate alumni a 25 percent discount on tuition when they pursue a graduate degree at Northeastern.
McCarthy was a certified public accountant for 37 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where Northeastern is a client, and headed the US education and nonprofit practice from 1998 to 2004. He was also a principal at Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit
Organizations and a lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Sabo said he was optimistic about McCarthy’s successor Nedell.
“I think he’s very qualified,” Sabo said. “He’s very student-friendly and has been helpful to me in SGA.”
Aoun said in the email Northeastern is in the process of searching to fill the newly created vice president and chief operating officer (COO) position. McCarthy will remain as a consultant at Northeastern and as a senior adviser to Aoun until a COO is hired.
