Gerald L. Hector, CPA is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer for Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. He has been in the role for approximately four months where he oversees a majority of all the business and administrative functions of the college to include, human resources, information technology, business office, student accounts, auxiliary services, and facilities.
Prior to joining Morehouse, he was the Vice President for Financial Affairs and University Treasurer for Ivy League Cornell University. An institution that has an annual operating budget of $4.5 billion. There he was responsible for the controller’s office, tax office, payroll, sponsored financial services, cash management, risk management, office of policy, and purchasing and procurement. While there he was also active in other groups around judicial mentoring, and race and diversity workshops and presentation to his division.
His career as a financial and administrative executive goes back to similar roles as the Vice President of Finance and Administration at Ithaca College where he implemented a number of firsts for the college that included the implementation of the Zero Based Budgeting concept, along with creating a monthly CFO discussion series entitled “Dollars and $ense.” He created a ten-year master plan for the campus, along with deferred maintenance strategic plans for both facilities and information technology. Both plans were firsts for the college. In addition to his regular duties he became known in several circles for his commitment and work around race, diversity and inclusion in 2015, when tensions arose on college campuses across the country. He was featured on several webcasts and podcasts during that time. The model he implemented to have difficult dialogues has been adopted by his former colleagues at other institutions.
He has also held the Vice President of Business and Finance role at Johnson C. Smith University, an HBCU that was guided through to a successful reaccreditation process in 2006 with no findings or recommendations. There he also created several financial firsts like establishing the college’s first ever unrestricted cash reserve of $10 million. He went to Johnson C. Smith after having served as the Corporate Controller for the United Negro College Fund, Inc. While at UNCF he was responsible for putting together the financial budgets and framework for the $1 billion Gates Millennium Scholars program. A program that was designed through the generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates to provide 20,000 minority students with a college education. Prior to UNCF, he was a public accountant with Deloitte and Touche where he served independent power plants and nonprofit organizations.
An honors graduate from Howard University’s School of Business with a baccalaureate degree in accounting, he also holds a Masters in Christian Thought from the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He weaves both his financial acumen and spiritual grounding to mentor and engage a host of individuals on the issues of today. His lunchtime lecture in the fall of 2018 at Cornell University around “Faith and Finance” continues to be an inspiration to individuals who are keen on trying to understand the interaction of how the world we live in today presents opportunities for reflection and healing.
He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and attended Our Lady of the Angels Prepatory School, and then matriculated to Kingston College at the age of ten years old. While at Kingston College, he participated in three sports (cricket, football and track). Track and filed afforded him the opportunity to attend the prestigious Howard University on a full athletic scholarship. He continues to give back to youngsters at Kingston College through various informal channels, and has attempted to assist student athletes on a broader level by inviting his former coach, William Moultrie back to Jamaica in 1996 to educate student athletes, parents and administrators on the rules of the NCAA. He continues to be a fierce proponent for making significant change in how student athletes are treated in regards to their futures being high school in Jamaica.
He is married to his college sweetheart, Sharon-Kaye, and their union has produced three beautiful children: Joshua, Timothy and Kezia. Before relocating to Atlanta, he taught Men’s Bible Study at the Calvary Baptist Church, and continues to mentor a host of young people who are interested in becoming chief financial officers, or social entrepreneurs.
Despite his participation in writing and present scholarly works on finance and administration in higher education, later this fall he will be releasing his first book as a tribute to his former college coach William P. Moultrie, a man who took a chance on him while he was still living in Jamaica. He has also commenced work on an outline for another book that will speak to his living in three different countries, and having been a senior administrator at four different schools that have included two HBCUs (Historically Black College or University), and two PWIs, (Predominantly White Institutions) during these challenging times when seemingly some folks would like to return to an era many thought had ended.
He is an avid reader, golfer and remains inquisitive around how he can make an impact on the world around him each and every day.