WHOI Names New CFO (USA)

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has appointed Jeffrey Fernandez to the position of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance. Fernandez assumed his post July 23.

Fernandez joins WHOI after nearly 30 years with the University of California, most recently serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). Prior to this, Fernandez held financial positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as well as with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.

“The extensive experience and capabilities Jeffrey brings with him will serve the Institution well as he assumes leadership of our financial operations,” says WHOI President and Director Susan Avery. She also expressed gratitude to the search committee chaired by WHOI Dean of Academic Programs Jim Yoder and members of the WHOI finance team, interim co-VPs of Finance and Administration Dana Fernandez (no relation) and Emily Schorer.

Fernandez holds an MPA from George Washington University, School of Government and Business Administration, where he concentrated on management, economics, and public finance. He earned his bachelor’s from the University of Vermont, with a major in communication and a minor in economics, business, and accounting. He replaces Chris Winslow, who left the Institution in December 2011.

“I am very excited to be coming to help support the incredible science and engineering at WHOI,” says Fernandez. “The people who I have met there are amazing and dedicated to the mission, and I am very pleased to be part of Dr. Avery’s team.”

Fernandez was involved in several large projects at LBNL over the last nine years, including the planning for a large second campus and the construction of a billion-dollar laser to begin in 2014. “I’ll miss the people at the lab,” says Fernandez, “It has a great spirit. But a lot of that exists at WHOI. And, of course, there are a lot of similarities in the quality of the science and the importance of the mission. It’s exciting to be able to contribute to an organization with such a great reputation and that does such great science and engineering.”

Native New Englanders, Fernandez and his wife Nancie will live with their two children, son Jessie and daughter Chelsea, in Lexington, Mass.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit marine research, engineering, and higher education organization based on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It has an annual operating budget of $215 million. The Institution employs approximately 1000 people including researchers, engineers, information technology specialists, ship and vehicle crew, and administrative support staff. It operates on two campuses – its facilities in Woods Hole include labs and shore-front marine facilities, and its Quissett campus, approximately 1.5 miles from Woods Hole, houses laboratories, administrative buildings and several heavy-equipment high bays.

Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, WHOI’s primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the oceans’ role in the changing global environment.

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Subsea World News Staff , July 24, 2012;  Image: WHOI