Kenneth Kimball, CAPP

DIRECTOR, FISCAL AFFAIRS, HUMAN RESOURCES AND PAYROLL, IT DEVELOPMENT, IT SUPPORT
Texas A&M University, Transportation Service

Kenneth “Kenny” Kimball, CAPP, is chief compliance officer and chief finance officer, Texas A&M University Transportation Services, managing a budget of $50 million, directing the IT development and support unit, and overseeing the human resources manager and staff. He also volunteers in his church and community and for Texas A&M, leading a university committee of business administrators.

Kimball is frequently called upon by peer universities, undergraduates, and graduate students to lend help and solutions to their problems or projects. He recently wrote a comprehensive, instructive article for Parking & Mobility magazine, “Financial Success in a University Environment,” in which he outlined how to create a successful financial plan.

Kimball took the lead for his department in undertaking becoming an APO with Distinction. He met with all of the units to lay out expectations and tirelessly gathered and organized thousands of documents.

His plans help his department thrive even in lean times. In one example, Transportation Services was faced with an aging bus fleet and limited financial resources for replacement. Kimball identified a bus company to serve as a partner and led a significant cost-saving venture to remanufacture the fleet. A new bus costs about $450,000 and takes about two years to build. Remanufacturing usually takes less than a year and saves hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As the department financial adviser, Kimball’s goal is to always make sure leadership has the information needed to make sound fiscal decisions. His strength is projecting what the budgets will look like in the future and creating good models. He is also talented at building models that factor in the many challenges of budgeting for auxiliary services in a university environment. He has an intuitive sense for planning for the unknown, based on his vast experience with the many constraints a government entity is bound to produce. His presentations to propose rate, policy, and infrastructure changes are always based on a careful look at the big picture, constraints, and future projections.

Recently, he was placed on a university-level task force to explore how recent changes to federal tax law will affect parking benefits for staff and faculty.