SUU Names Two New Vice Presidents

Two new vice presidents have been appointed to serve as part of the executive team at Southern Utah University. President Mindy Benson announced that Dr. Mary Pearson will serve as the new CFO/Vice President for the university and that Tiger Funk will be the university's first Vice President of Operations.

Both of the new vice presidents are longtime employees and alumni of SUU and they bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their positions. They will begin serving in their new roles on August 1^st.

Dr. Pearson has been serving as the Dean of the Dixie L. Leavitt School of Business since 2017. As Dean, she led the school through a significant increase in student enrollment, expanded program offerings including the MBA program, data analytics, entrepreneurship, and professional sales, and deepened alumni and industry connections. Prior to becoming dean, Pearson was a professor of accounting at SUU for 17 years. She is also a certified public accountant and has her own financial firm with clients across the United States. She is also currently running for seat on the Cedar City Council.

As CFO/Vice President of Finance, Pearson will oversee Accounting Services, Planning and Budget, Purchasing, Internal Audit, Auxiliaries, as well as Human Resources and Information Technology.

Tiger Funk has worked at SUU for 17 years and is currently the Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management overseeing all of the university’s facilities operations, leading master planning efforts, and managing capital development projects.

His leadership has been instrumental in the completion of many new campus buildings notably the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, Leavitt Business Building, and most recently, Bristlecone Hall.

In this new expanded role, Funk will continue to manage facilities in addition to fleet operations and parking services, enterprise risk management and campus safety including the SUU Police Department. Safety remains a top priority for the administration and Funk and his team will lead out on developing and implementing a comprehensive approach to campus safety and emergency planning for the institution.

In a press release, President Benson said, “I am thrilled to welcome Mary and Tiger to the President’s Cabinet. Their expertise, leadership, and dedication to our institution will help SUU continue to thrive. These two positions will serve the unique needs of our campus community and help us better fulfill our mission to transform lives through education.”

President Benson also thanked Mitch Bealer for serving as interim Vice President of Finance and Administration for the past several months.