Kent advised state leaders, legislators, superintendents, college presidents, trustees, and community officials for almost 30 years in California, Oregon, and Utah as a chief business officer (CBO). He most recently served as deputy superintendent for San Juan Unified, one of California’s largest school districts. Previously he served as vice president of Hartnell College in California. He also was the CBO at Lane County Office of Education in Eugene, Oregon, and Salt Lake City School District. While in Oregon, he was appointed by the governor to represent all 165 school districts on the state’s Best Business Practices Advisory Committee.He was charged with oversight for all traditional school business and operational functions, including finance, budgeting, purchasing, nutrition services, student transportation, facility management, risk management, and technology. Additionally, Kent handled public financing (bonds) and large capital improvement plans. Kent has been active in the Association of School Business Officials and The Council of Great City Schools. He served on several governing boards for California Joint Power Authorities in California with oversight for insurances, risk management, and technology. He is a member of the Northern California School Business Executives. He earned a Bachelor of Science with an emphasis in finance and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in strategy from Brigham Young University.
Deputy Superintendent/Chief Business Official
San Juan Unified School District, Carmichael, California, 2011-2021
Public K-12 School District, serving 50,000 students at 70 neighborhood and charter schools
$480 Million General Fund Budget, $760 Million Total Budget 5,000 Employees
Vice President
Hartnell College, Salinas, California, 2009-2011
Public Community College District, serving 13,000 students at 3 sites
$50 Million General Fund Budget, $120 Million Total Budget
600 Employees
Chief Financial Officer
Medford School District, Medford, Oregon, 2006-2010
Public K-12 School District, serving 12,200 students at 21 sites
$101 Million General Fund Budget, $220 Million Total Budget
1,200 Employees
Business Administrator/CFO
Salt Lake City School District, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2001-2006
Public K-12 School District, serving 24,000 students at 38 sites
$160 Million General Fund Budget, $250 Million Total Budget
3,000 Employees
Achievements:
- Managed turnaround of $200M capital improvement plan, turning $20M deficit into $8M surplus. Developed construction management strategies, accelerated project completion timelines, managed project-scope, maximized in-house expertise, renegotiated contracts, and increased project resources through cash management and bond issuance structure strategies.
- Restructured previous bond issuance plan to save tax payers an estimated $180,000,0000 in borrowing costs. Hired professional Financial Adviser, implemented multiple sale strategy, maximized cash flow, reduced tax burden and eliminated need to sell costly deferred-interest bonds.
- Issued $40M in pension obligation bonds, reducing interest costs charged by state system and saving district operating funds $700,000 annually.
- Boosted fund equity balances by over 100%, from $4.3M to $8.7M, in two years. Also adopted business practices to reserve an additional $4M to strategically plan for future initiatives and provide program sustainability. This stability, along with the demonstration of strong, competent fiscal management convinced two major bond rating agencies to improve district ratings.
- Developed new, transparent budgeting processes, providing Board of Directors with comprehensive monthly actual-to-projected reports and significantly reducing end-of-year waste by allowing sites to carry forward unspent resources.
- Appointed by Oregon State Superintendent of Public Instruction as only school business official, representing 200 districts statewide, to serve on District Best Business Practice Advisory Committee. This legislatively created committee is charged with developing best business practice standards and criteria for state audits.
- Negotiated with fellow Tax Entity Committee members to restore previously diverted urban renewal tax proceeds to the district, eventually increasing revenue by more than $1M annually.
- Increased general fund equity balance by 30% (from $15M to $20M) to improve financial position in Salt Lake City and maintain AAA bond rating.
