LITTLE ROCK (Monday, Feb. 28, 2022) — University of Arkansas System President Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt named Tara Smith, of North Little Rock, to take over as chief financial officer of the UA System beginning March 1.
Smith is currently the finance and procurement lead with the UA System’s ongoing enterprise resource planning (ERP) project implementation, and was previously the CFO/vice chancellor for finance at the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College and deputy director at the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE).
Gina Terry, who served as CFO of the UA System since September 2017, retired Jan. 31.
“Ms. Terry did a tremendous job leading the UA System’s finances and helped guide the system and its many campuses, divisions and units through countless challenging endeavors over the last five years, and she will be missed,” Bobbitt said. “I’m grateful Ms. Smith is willing to take on the challenges and responsibilities our finance wing presents, and her experience — not only within the UA System but in higher education as a whole — gives me great confidence she’s the right fit for the job.”
Before Smith’s roles leading finance with the UA System’s ERP project and at UA-Pulaski Technical College, she served as Deputy Director at ADHE. She also previously was senior associate director of institutional finance at ADHE and was employed at Pulaski Technical College as director of institutional research in 2011-12. Smith earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration from UA Little Rock.