Joel is recognized throughout BYU as a true financial expert. He is an adept counselor who applies his deep functional knowledge and well-honed communication skills for the benefit of the campus community. Joel has led the budget office for more than five years and served in that office for twenty years.
He is at the center of the annual resource planning process coordinating with members of the President’s Council, Assessment and Planning Office, the Academic Vice President’s Office, the campus controllers, and the Commissioner of Education’s finance team. He effectively transitions through those discussions carefully considering the individual’s perspective on a particular topic.
Joel is an integral member of the Financial Services Directors Council. This council addresses the University-wide financial issues. Joel is a key member of the council with his insightful perspectives and ability to effectively advise on a broad range of topics.
He recently completed an appointment on the unit review committee. His effective writing and thoughtful questions were helpful to the committee and benefited the reviewed units.
One of his greatest qualities that benefits our team, and the university is his willingness to step in and help a team member that is encountering a difficulty or unexpected issue. He also readily shares his knowledge of the university’s budgeting process and available funding to counsel senior leaders throughout campus.
Joel is heavily involved in the Workday implementation. A recent experience demonstrates competency, teamwork, and innovation. The implementation team was having difficulty completing a spreadsheet tool to upload financial information into Workday. Joel reviewed the partially completed project and saw that he could complete the tool using his extensive knowledge of VBA Macros. Within a few days, he had a working model that is being tested by several unit finance teams and will be used campus wide by all finance teams after Workday is implemented.
Joel’s caring nature and concern for the individual makes him particularly effective when counseling about using sacred funds responsibly. In 2024, as part of Resource Planning, the Commissioner’s office requested an evaluation of several campus units’ reserve funds. Joel led that review project. He carefully handled those discussions, maintaining a focus and asking thoughtful questions about how the available funds could be used more effectively to bless students.
The third example further demonstrates Joel’s financial competency and teamwork. In 2020, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) transitioned from an auxiliary to a fully appropriated unit. The project required collaboration between the Commissioner of Education’s office, OIT, and Financial Services. Joel helped design and build the complex financial model that was used for the final recommendation.