John Cusimano, associate treasurer at Virginia Tech, has been named University Treasurer.

Cusimano succeeds Ray Smoot, who retired in July after serving as University Treasurer and chief executive officer of the Virginia Tech Foundation.

As University Treasurer, Cusimano will provide overall leadership to the investment and cash management, and debt management functions of the university. Reporting to Vice President for Finance and CFO Dwight Shelton, the treasurer is authorized to invest all endowment, quasi-endowment and operating funds of the university, and issue all debt on behalf of the university.

“John has extensive experience with the treasury function, and his many years of experience at Virginia Tech and his concurrent work with the Virginia Tech Foundation makes him very well qualified to lead the treasurer operations in the future,” said Shelton.

Cusimano will oversee the investment of more than $1.6 billion of financial assets for the university and its related Virginia Tech Foundation, and manage a comprehensive $750 million debt program for the university and several university-related corporations. He will be responsible for the investment oversight of the foundation’s endowment and deferred gift programs, and the management, accounting and reporting of university and foundation operating and short-term investment funds.

Cusimano will continue to serve as the co-chair of the Defined Contribution Advisory Committee, which provides oversight for the investment platform of the university’s Optional Retirement Program. His debt management responsibilities include obtaining external financing for university and Virginia Tech Foundation debt-financed capital projects through a number of state programs, individual underwritten debt issuances, or bank loans; and management of the overall financing structure and strategy of the debt programs. He also secures debt-related credit enhancements and liquidity facilities for the foundation’s $50 million variable rate bond portfolio and manage its interest rate exposure through the use of interest rate swaps. The Virginia Tech Foundation’s Office of Investments and Debt Management also receives and manages all gifts of marketable securities on behalf of the university.  

“The university and the Virginia Tech Foundation are very fortunate to have John’s leadership and oversight to their fiscal resources," said John Dooley, chief executive of the Virginia Tech Foundation. “His knowledge and expertise are invaluable.”

In addition to his role as university treasurer, Cusimano serves as the administrative advisor to SEED (Student-managed Endowment for Educational Development), BASIS (Bond And Securities Investing by Students) and COINs (Commodity Investing by Students), three student investment groups that manage approximately $10 million of endowment funds for the Virginia Tech Foundation. He also represents the university within the state and local business community by serving as a member of the State Non-Arbitrage Program Advisory Board and as vice president and chairman of the Investment Committee for the MBC Development Corporation.

Cusimano began his career with Virginia Tech as investment manager in 1988. He was promoted to the position of director of investments and debt management in 1992 and was named the associate treasurer in 2003. He has served as the foundation’s director of investments and debt management and was recently promoted to associate vice president for finance.

He received a bachelor’s degree in finance and a MBA from Virginia Tech.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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