Name: Alex Terry
Title/Department: Business Manager for Capital Projects, Finance and Operations Service Center of Excellence
F&O start date: August 2021
Years at Carolina: Three
Professional background: Prior to joining the University, I was an internal auditor at the City of Durham and a budget analyst for the Town of Chapel Hill and the Town of Cary. While at these organizations, I conducted audit engagements to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental programs and created and managed the budgets across all funds for the organizations.
Education: I earned my Bachelor of Arts in political science and my Master of Public Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill.
What does your job entail: I’m involved in pretty much any project that involves repairing, renovating or creating new or existing facilities or capital assets at the University. I make sure that all of our customer-funded projects (small, deferred maintenance projects) and code-item projects (large-scale facility maintenance, repairs or renovation) are properly budgeted, funded, and are being paid on time and appropriately. A great example is the $195.25M Kenan-Flagler Business School expansion that is in construction. I work with the UNC System Office, the Office of State Budget and Management, and UNC Facilities Services to ensure that we are spending the correct funding sources and make sure that vendors are paid on time to make sure the project stays on schedule. This involves doing frequent cash flows with UNC Facilities Services to ensure that state and University funds are spent strategically.
What is exciting you about your job right now: As a Carolina alumnus, I love being associated with UNC-Chapel Hill and working on making the University facilities look as beautiful and impressive as they did when I was a student. The University continues to grow and evolve from when I was a student, and I love being a part of building and renovating innovative and cool new buildings that will teach the next generation of leaders. A recent example was working with the School of Medicine on Roper Hall, a new state-of-the-art medical education building for our medical students. We were having bi-weekly meetings to ensure the spending and funding was occurring quickly so the building could open on time, and when it was finally done I was able to walk around and see all of the amazing new rooms and equipment.
What is something we may not know about you: I did improv comedy for almost two years! I always really enjoyed watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a kid and I wanted to improve my public speaking skills, so I signed up for lessons on a whim and ended up being on a comedy team for two years. It was a great experience to learn how to “yes, and…” and I really enjoyed performing in front of an audience and having to come up with a funny skit on the spot.