Anthony Luongo, Budget Center Director for the Arts & Sciences and Engineering Portfolios
Tony joined Tufts in October 2011 as budget fiscal officer (BFO) for Central Administration within the Finance Office. Prior to Tufts, he spent six years at Genzyme Corporation within the Personalized Genetic Health finance team, and seven years in banking, mainly with State Street Corporation’s Wealth Management Services division. He has an MBA from Boston College.
How does the role of Budget Center director compare to your previous role?
As a BFO, I was limited by the fact that there was only one of me. There was always a level of detail I wanted to get to but never had the resources. Those of us who were BFOs before, we felt siloed. It was difficult to share information or ideas when everything was on spreadsheets. Now that we have a consistent budget system, now that we are working as a larger team, it should be much easier to share our ideas and things that work well. We’ll be able to serve the university better.
What has been most surprising to you in your first six months with the Budget Center?
I had experience as the BFO for Central Administration, but Arts and Sciences and Engineering is new to me. Each school has it’s own unique way of doing things. I expected a lot of detail but there are even more nuances than I’d expected.
In what ways is budgeting for Arts & Sciences and Engineering unique compared to other schools and departments?
So much about the budget originates with the undergrad population. Tuition and financial aid drive the budget so Admissions, the Office of Financial Aid, the dean’s office, the executive team, the Budget Center and many others all have to work together to set tuition rates, determine the right number of students and make sure the budget reflects those decisions.
Part of your job this first year is to establish relationships with the schools you serve. How is that going?
We’ve met with 40 or 50 groups, including all the different academic departments, the Tisch Library and the dean’s offices. The people we’ve met with have been receptive to message that we’re here to help them. It’s always a challenge to take on new systems, new processes and terminology. It’s a steep learning curve but things are progressing well and that has a lot to do with the people in the schools we work with. At every level, in our meetings with departments, the response has been positive. We are trying to learn great quantities of information and people have been very helpful to us.
With the benefit of hindsight, how would you rate your first six months?
This has been such an aggressive start, we were essentially trying to do two things at once: Meet the people we’re serving, get to know them and start working right away on their budgets. Once we have those relationships fully established, our work will shift to how we can better serve them through the budget process.
For the next six months, we’ll be doing things for the first time. As we get into the summer, we can better plan the next budget process. There won’t be as much discovery. We will be able to get into a normal rhythm throughout the year and make sure we meet with the schools earlier and more often than we could at the beginning of the current fiscal year.
What is the make-up of your team?
There are six positions on my team besides me: two senior analysts and four analysts, roughly divided between Arts & Sciences and Engineering. The two senior analysts have experience working in higher ed. The analysts are new to higher ed and new to Tufts. Everyone on the team has great financial experience and has been eager to jump in and learn.
It’s a great, enthusiastic team. That’s what I’ve liked about entire Budget Center staff. There are those who came from Tufts who have institutional knowledge. The people who were external hires have great and varied experience. It’s great to see them brainstorm and build a better way of doing budget work.