University of California, Davis, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi today (Oct. 14) named Dave Lawlor as vice chancellor of Finance and Resource Management, and chief financial officer.

Lawlor has held a senior finance post at George Washington University in the nation’s capital for the last seven years and before that worked in industry in California, Illinois and Maryland.

“Dave has the right combination of skills and experience to bolster our standing as an institution that is fiscally strong and less dependent on the variables of state funding,” Katehi said. “He will help ensure that we meet our full potential as one of the nation’s top public research universities.”

Lawlor is scheduled to take up his post on Nov. 3, with responsibility for central business and facilities operations, formerly housed in Administrative and Resource Management.

Lawlor emigrated from Dublin, Ireland, to Northern California in 1988, at the age of 17. He put himself through California State University, Hayward (now Cal State East Bay), worked as a portfolio analyst for Wells Fargo in San Francisco and then spent 10 years in Sonoma County, working much of that time for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies (before and after HP spun off Agilent). At HP-Agilent, he held such titles as division controller, research and development manager, business manager and director of strategic alliances.

He moved east in 2004 for more work in the technology sector, as CFO and chief operating officer for PCTEL Maryland Inc., and vice president of strategy and business development for PCTEL Inc. in Chicago.

He moved into academia in 2008, as senior associate vice president for finance at George Washington University, a private school with about 25,000 students on three campuses.

“I feel very fortunate to move from one world-class institution to another,” Lawlor said. “Though different in many respects, both GW and UC Davis have much in common. The financial challenges, opportunities for growth in research and fundraising, globalization factors, and new modes of instruction present similar business decision points.”

At George Washington, Lawlor has played a critical role in transforming the finance function through the use of technology, process re-engineering, and financial stewardship.

Amid the nation’s economic downturn, he restructured the university’s debt portfolio to take advantage of historically low taxable and tax-exempt interest rates, issued new and refinanced bonds, grew cash liquidity and supported several hundred million dollars’ worth of capital projects.

“Dave has made an outstanding contribution to the George Washington University and we will miss his leadership and wise counsel,” Executive Vice President and Treasurer Lou Katz said. “We wish him well in this great new opportunity.”

George Washington President Steven Knapp commended Lawlor for his work as chair of the President’s Innovation Task Force. “His dedication and his collaborative style enabled the ITF to identify savings and new revenue sources that are having a transformational impact on our university,” Knapp said.

The task force, akin to Katehi’s Organizational Excellence Initiative, has generated and freed up a total of some $27 million annually for academic programs. The university estimates that figure will climb to $68 million — accounting for new revenue,  increased research and fundraising, and cost reductions by way of efficiencies and operational improvements.

“I relish the opportunity to contribute in a similar way at UC Davis,” he said. “I will do my very best to serve this great institution.”