Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
The University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center’s top financial officer, Ava Lovell, will retire in June.
Lovell, HSC’s senior executive officer for Finance & Administration, has spent nearly 28 years with UNM. She began her time with the university in 1994 and has been in her current role since 2012.
“I just can’t think of a better way to spend your time that you put into a career any place else really,” Lovell told the Journal. “It went so fast and I really enjoyed it.”
A certified public accountant with more than 30 years of financial management experience, Lovell has fiscal and administrative oversight for academic and health system enterprises under UNM’s Health Sciences Center.
She received her bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Northern Arizona University. She also received her master’s degree in health administration from the University of Southern California in 2016.
Lovell’s most recent salary stood at $275,000, according to UNM’s transparency portal.
Lovell’s career took her many places before her time at UNM. She worked for a national auditing firm, Ernst & Young, and several Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo, before heading to UNM.
In 2007, Lovell became the vice president and university controller over main campus and UNM Health Sciences Center’s financial services. By 2012, she had moved full-time into HSC’s Finance & Administration department as SEO.
Lovell also taught some classes related to accounting through the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
“Her excellent skills and knowledge combined with tireless efforts has helped create stability in a rapidly changing health care and health sciences landscape, and we have been very fortunate to benefit from her leadership,” executive vice president for Health Sciences and CEO of UNM Health System Doug Ziedonis said.
The UNM Health Sciences Center said it will conduct an internal search for an interim VP of Finance & Administration until a national search is “implemented for the role.” Lovell, whose last day is June 30, will remain through the rest of the year in an advisory capacity, according to HSC.
