By Leanne Vastbinder, Opinion and Online Editor
Newman has a new vice president of finance.
Anthony Beata, who came to Newman from a college in Nebraska, is replacing Jennifer Gantz, who left Newman recently to accept a position as the chief financial officer at the Kansas Health Science Center.
Beata started his position with Newman on April 13 and will move into a full-time role on May 1.
In an emailed response, Beata said he started his career in public accounting 15 years ago and has been the vice president for finance at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska, for the past six years.
After deciding to move on from Hastings College, Beata said he looked for openings at other schools that aligned with his Catholic faith and mission and found Newman. After initial meetings with Board of Trustee members, Beata said, Newman stood out as an organization that is intentional about its students and faculty.
“What has struck me the most is how passionate everyone is around providing the best student education and experience possible, and doing this in a collaborative process,” Beata said.
Beata said it has been challenging to start his new position in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed the school for in-person classes.
“Aside from the obvious challenges of staying focused and productive while working from home, I find myself being more of a people person than I thought I was,” he said. “Remote meetings and conversations work well on a practical level, but being physically in the room allows for much deeper connections. Teams, both sports and in the office, work much better when members can be vulnerable with each other. Remote work impedes this to a degree.”
Beata said he is looking forward to not only getting to know the Newman community but also to getting to experience Wichita.
“I and my family are really looking forward to living in a larger community. I spent most of my life in large city environments and I have come to enjoy living in a more rural setting, but moving to Wichita will open up a lot of dining and entertainment opportunities that I have really missed over the last six years. Good pizza on Friday nights and going to the occasional baseball game in the summer will go a long way to improve my general disposition,” Beata said.
Courtesy Photo, Newman Advancement
