Anderson moving on

Rick Anderson, executive vice president for Finance and Administration, will resign from his position Oct. 15 and join the Medical University of South Carolina as executive vice president of Finance and Operations. 

In an email sent by the Office of the President, Anderson is set to assume his new role Nov. 1, pending approval from the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Trustees. 

Anderson said he has spent all of his life in public universities, most of which have medical schools. He was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for seven years, so he and his wife got to know the Charleston, South Carolina area when they lived there. 

“I always said it was one of those cities that we can live and work in,” he said. “When this opportunity came up at the Medical University of South Carolina, and how they’re governed and how they’re structured between the health system and the university, was of interest to me.” 

Before his role at UTRGV, Anderson was in a similar role at Washburn University in Kansas. 

“I was there six years and before that, I was at University [of] Missouri-Kansas City, which is where I worked with [UTRGV President] Guy Bailey,” he said. “So, this is the second time I work for Guy Bailey. I had an opportunity to work with him in Kansas City in his first president’s job, basically, a number of years ago, and, of course, we stayed in contact. And one of the reasons I’m here was because I had finance but I also had health care background, and so, when they were looking for a new executive vice president here, they knew I had health care and … that was important because they were starting a new medical school here.”  

Anderson said it was a difficult decision to make because his position and the opportunity to join President Bailey and his team have been unparalleled. 

“I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot of things,” he said. “Again, it’s a team approach. I can’t take all the credit for it, I can take some of the credit for it, and this was an opportunity in South Carolina to do some of the same things with their health systems.” 

Asked about his transition to his new role, Anderson replied that Bailey and Janna Arney, UTRGV deputy president, spoke with his team and between now and his last day in office, he will be working with campus leadership to ensure a smooth transition. 

“I think my last day in the office will probably be around Oct. 15, that’s probably what it looks like right now,” he said. “As far as interim or permanent leadership or other things like that, all of those things are under consideration right now, but I don’t think anything specific that’s going to be announced here soon.” 

Anderson said his office has presented UTRGV’s five-year financial plan to the University of Texas System Board of Regents at its last meeting, which includes what kind of financial accomplishments it has made  and what its capabilities are to make reinvestments in the enterprise. 

“We’re set up from a financial standpoint for UTRGV to start making some additional capital investment in the future of the enterprise to grow, both on the health care side and on the university side,” he said.    

Anderson said his experience at UTRGV has been an unbelievable opportunity. 

“To help start UTRGV and their new medical school here in South Texas, not that many individuals get a chance to do that,” he said. “And it has been an honor and a privilege to serve in the Rio Grande Valley. Hopefully, I left the place better than I found it, which is always your goal, and leave UTRGV set up for future success for whoever takes over for me.” 

Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications at UTRGV, said it was a bittersweet announcement because he had gotten to know Anderson well in the last five years. 

“He and his family will be missed at UTRGV,” Gonzales said. “His wife, Julie, serves as an optometrist specialist for UT Health RGV, but at the same time, I know that this is a great opportunity for him to further his career and move back to an area that he has worked at before.” 

He said Anderson played a pivotal role in growing the university’s operating budget. 

“When you think about where UTRGV was when he got here and where it is now, it’s a drastic improvement,” Gonzales said. “And we owe a lot of that to Rick.”

He said in order to be a successful university, you have to be able to cultivate and develop partnerships within the community. 

“UTRGV serves a big community, all the way from South Padre Island to Rio Grande City, that’s a big area,” Gonzales said. “If you just kind of look at some of the different partnerships that we’ve been able to develop, you know, in Harlingen with the early high school, with this recent cancer center in McAllen, our research center in McAllen, the new natatorium in Pharr, you know, Rick played a role in all of those.” 

He said his impact with UTRGV’s partnerships, with the cities and the communities, has been important during his time with the university.

Asked what message he had for Anderson, Gonzales responded, “Thank you, on behalf of all of UTRGV, students, faculty and staff. Thank you for your five years of service and for putting UTRGV in a better position now than when you found it in 2016. We just thank him for his hard work and dedication to the university.”