Deficits to Surpluses: Top Turnaround Strategies

Dennis Dintino brings over thirty years of higher education experience at major research universities and private institutions to NACUBO consulting. His areas of expertise include turnarounds, mergers and acquisitions, enrollment growth, improved retention, campus transformation projects, and engineering of administrative and organizational structures from an HR perspective.

Most recently, Dintino was the senior vice dean for finance and administration at New York University (NYU). In Dintino’s 11 years at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, he supervised finance and budgeting, facilities, capital projects and space planning, human resources, information technology, legal, public safety, auxiliary enterprises, food services, and graduate enrollment (dual report to academic side). Previously, Dintino was the chief financial officer for Polytechnic University. In his ten years at Polytechnic, he led a financial turnaround which resulted in a $14M operating deficit becoming a balanced budget within three years. Prior to his time at Polytechnic University, he was a senior internal auditor at Columbia University for ten years where he audited the School of Business, Law, Medicine and many academic and administrative units.

Dintino has a BA from Rutgers University.

Ruth A. Johnston is the acting vice president of consulting for NACUBO and the founder and owner of RAJ Consulting, LLC. She most recently served as the system vice chancellor and chief operating officer at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Over her nearly four-year tenure, Johnston oversaw vital areas, including finance and business services, facilities and services, enterprise risk management and safety, human resource services, information and communication technologies, government and community relations, and marketing and communications. Prior to this, Johnston held the role of vice chancellor for planning and administration at the University of Washington (UW) Bothell. Notably, she led the development of a pioneering hybrid budget model based on responsibility-centered management principles. In 2008, she established UW's sustainability office and masterminded the development of UW's Climate Action Plan. Johnston's educational journey is marked by a doctorate in organizational development and higher education, a master's degree in human relations, and a bachelor's in counseling psychology/social sciences.