MVCC hires Cayuga County administrator as its CFO

UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) announced it has hired Thomas Squires, currently the county administrator for Cayuga County, as its chief financial officer.

Squires, whose formal title will be vice president for administrative services, will join MVCC’s executive leadership team starting April 15.

In his new role, Squires will report to MVCC President Randall J. VanWagoner, with responsibility for the college’s budget strategies and implementation. Squires will also oversee offices and services responsible for the physical, financial, and technological infrastructure of the college.

“MVCC has a proud tradition of advancing its mission of student success and meeting the needs of our communities. Tom Squires will help us continue to take significant strides forward along that path,” VanWagoner said in a news release. “He has experience and success helping public institutions make good on their commitments to taxpayers, and I am confident that his professionalism will keep MVCC at the forefront of service to Oneida County.”

Squires’ appointment was approved by a unanimous vote of the community college’s board of trustees at its Monday meeting, following the recommendation of VanWagoner. MVCC said the hiring concludes a national search that began last fall when Ralph Feola, the previous vice president for administrative services, announced he planned to retire after 12 years at MVCC.

In Cayuga County over the last three years, Squires has managed the daily operations of more than 800 employees in 33 departments while balancing and maintaining a budget of $140 million, according to MVCC. Reporting to the county legislature, Squires was instrumental in the county’s work on budgets, public health and safety, labor relations, and technology infrastructure. He regularly participated in Cayuga Community College’s presentation of its budget to the county legislature, according to MVCC.

“I am excited to come to Mohawk Valley Community College, which I see making a great difference in the lives of local people and their economic prospects,” Squires said in the news release.

His other professional experience includes more than 17 years as deputy comptroller and internal auditor for Onondaga County; budget officer in the town of Cicero; staff accountant for Price Waterhouse LLP; and audit associate for Fust, Charles, Chambers and Harfosh LLP. Squires has also taught for more than a decade as an adjunct professor of business and accounting at Bryant & Stratton College in Syracuse.

Squires holds a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He also has a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oswego and is a CPA.

Founded in 1946, Mohawk Valley Community College is a two-year college that is a unit of the 64-campus State University of New York (SUNY) system. MVCC is the largest college between Albany and Syracuse, enrolling about 7,400 students. Each year, about one-third of Oneida County’s graduating high-school seniors attend MVCC, as well as about 1,800 adult students, the college says.

Contact Carbonaro at mcarbonaro@cnybj.com