A senior executive who has spent the past 14 years in progressive roles at the West Virginia University Foundation has been named the organization’s new vice president and chief financial officer/treasurer.
Melissa L. Simpson will begin her new position July 1, WVU Foundation President and CEO Cindi Roth announced Monday (April 20). She will take over for Mike Augustine, who is retiring June 30. Simpson will begin the role of CFO-elect May 1 to ensure a smooth transition in leadership.
“I am so pleased to have Melissa begin this new position as a key leader within our executive leadership team,” Roth said. “She has demonstrated her expertise in so many facets of higher education foundation finance, strategic thinking and financial governance. She is a proven, trusted partner to our Board of Directors and leaders, and I am confident that, under her watch, our Foundation will remain a strong, sustainable partner in fulfilling our mission to support WVU and WVU Medicine.”
Simpson joined the WVU Foundation in 2012 as director of internal audit. Her most recent position was senior associate vice president of finance and assistant treasurer. Prior to joining the WVU Foundation, she held key management positions in the audit field with Mon Health and Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP in Morgantown, as well as Thompson & Greenspon CPAs in Fairfax, Virginia.
All combined, Simpson has more than 25 years of experience in finance, audit, endowment management and fiduciary stewardship, both in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as CFO of the WVU Foundation and to continue working alongside such a talented team,” Simpson said. “I’m excited about what we can achieve together in the next chapter.”
Simpson earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting with a minor in communications from WVU. She holds certificates in both public accounting and internal audit, as well as a graduate certification in nonprofit management.
Simpson, her husband, Matt, and their two sons, Cris and Jaxon, live in Morgantown and are proud Mountaineers, with Cris graduating in May from the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics.
Founded in 1954 to support the University, the WVU Foundation raised $260.1 million last year from more than 22,000 donors. To learn more about the WVU Foundation and how to support the University, visit wvuf.org.