VICTORIA – Royal Roads University has recently announced the appointment of Cheryl Eason to the position of vice-president and chief financial officer, effective February 27, 2017.
Eason brings to the position more than 25 years of financial management experience with 15 years at an executive level. She joins Royal Roads University from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), where she directed CalPERS financial accounting and reporting for a pension fund of more than $300 billion, an operating/capital budget of $1.8 billion and 2,800 employees as chief financial officer since 2012. CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the United States.
A Royal Roads University alumna (MBA 2011), Eason’s previous roles include vice-president, financial & plan board services for BC Pension Corporation as well as executive vice-president and CFO for Manitoba Lotteries Corporation (MLC).
“Cheryl’s exceptional track record and wealth of experience in the public and private sectors will be a tremendous asset to the university,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Allan Cahoon. “We are very pleased to welcome her back to Royal Roads.”
A chartered professional accountant, Eason holds the Retirement Plans Associate designation from Dalhousie University and a Diploma in Management Consulting from the Grenoble Graduate School of Business (France).
The first CFO in CalPERS’ 85-year history, Eason directed treasury and cash management functions of the organization to manage $20 billion in benefits paid annually. She was also responsible for enterprise risk management processes for the fund, compliance and ethics and policy management.
She is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), a professional association of state, provincial and local finance officers in the United States and Canada. Eason’s accolades include numerous corporate awards from GFOA for distinguished budget financing for both CalPERS and MLC, for KPI reporting and sustainable development (MLC) and for risk mitigation policy (CalPERS).
Eason replaces Dan Tulip, who will retire in June 2017 after 15 years of outstanding service with Royal Roads University.
