Basil Andrew Stewart Appointed Vice President for Finance and Administration at Western New England University

SPRINGFIELD, MA (04/13/2021) Western New England University has announced the appointment of Basil Andrew Stewart as Vice President for Finance and Administration after a comprehensive national search. Currently, Stewart is the Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer for Lasell University and Assistant Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Lasell Village in Newton, MA. At WNE, Stewart will serve as the chief financial officer for the University.

“WNE will benefit greatly from Stewart’s breadth of experience in higher education and expertise in strategic planning as we move forward with a bold new vision for WNE as a model for what a 21st century traditional university can and must become,” said University President Dr. Robert E. Johnson. “Now, more than ever, institutions need to be as agile and transparent with their finance and technology operations as they are with their academic programming to ensure long-range growth and financial stability. Stewart brings that innovative mindset.”

Stewart will be responsible for WNE’s finance and budgeting, internal audits, facilities management and construction, campus police, risk management, information technology, and auxiliary services. As CFO, he will serve as chief advisor to the president on financial and administrative matters and will have administrative responsibility to the Board of Trustees by providing administrative support to its finance, audit, and investment committees.

Prior to his current post, Stewart served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration at Merrimack College and held controller posts at such prestigious institutions as MIT, Northeastern, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Smith College, and Wentworth Institute of Technology. He held auditing posts for The Gillette Company and Coopers & Lybrand.

Stewart earned his MBA and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is a board member of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education and Boston Senior Home Care, Inc., and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc., Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. He holds designations as a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Stewart, who joins Western New England University in June, succeeds retiring Vice President for Finance and Administration Dr. Richard Wagner, who also served as Director of Institutional Leadership and Planning for 18 years.