Gavin Farry, MBA, CPA

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration

gavin.farry@rosalindfranklin.edu

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Gavin Farry is responsible for the oversight and leadership of finance, investments, purchasing, IT, HR, facilities management and campus safety at Rosalind Franklin University (RFU). He brings to the position a passion for building and leading high-performing teams around core business functions, and as a member of the President’s Cabinet providing finance and business leadership, particularly around growth initiatives and change management to university leadership.

Prior to joining RFU in January 2021, Mr. Farry served as the senior vice president of business operations and chief financial officer at Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in Chicago for almost six years. At HIMSS, Mr. Farry managed all aspects of the financial enterprise and also had oversight of human resources, facilities and treasury activities across all departments for the $90 million business, which has operations in North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

His experience in the nonprofit sector includes serving as chief administrative and financial officer at Thresholds, a Chicago-based provider of recovery services for persons with mental illnesses and substance use. There, Mr. Farry oversaw key administrative functions that bolstered their mission, including facilities, finance, IT, risk management and talent management, to name a few.

Prior to Thresholds, he spent 11 years in various finance management roles, including leading the Financial Reporting Department for AMLI Residential, an institutional real estate fund managed by Morgan Stanley. He also worked in leadership and management of a divisional accounting team for publicly traded Equity Office Properties, subsequently acquired by private equity firm Blackstone. He began his career at Deloitte providing audit and consulting services across various industries, including international experience working abroad for three years.

Mr. Farry is originally from South Africa, where he earned his bachelor's degree in accounting and commerce from University of the Witwatersrand. He is a Certified Public Accountant and also holds an MBA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In 2014, he was named Chicago CFO of the Year in the not-for-profit company division by Financial Executives International.