|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
With concerns mounting over its increasingly precarious financial footing, Clemson University announced this week that its top bean counter was leaving the school for another higher ed position.
Rick Petillo, Clemson’s senior vice president for finance and operations and chief financial officer, will leave the school on October 2, 2026 to become the next vice chancellor at Vanderbilt, according to a news release issued by the Upstate school on Monday (September 21, 2026).
Petillo was thrust into his role in February 2025 after Clemson’s former executive vice president and top financial officer, Tony Wagner, announced he was leaving the school to accept a similar position at the University of Utah. Petillo repeatedly sounded the alarm on Clemson’s unsustainable financial trajectory, but school leaders did little to address the fundamental problems.
Petillo will be replaced on an interim basis by Kelly Collins, who has spent the past two-and-a-half years as Clemson’s associate vice president for financial operations.
Collins will be the third person overseeing the books at Clemson in the past twenty months.
***
***
“Rick has provided important leadership to Clemson, and we appreciate his service to the university,” Clemson president Ben Ayers said in a statement. “Clemson has made meaningful progress in strengthening our financial planning and resource-allocation processes. Our strong credit ratings and positive outlook reflect the University’s financial strength and provide a solid foundation for the future. I appreciate Rick’s leadership, and we will build on this progress under Kelly Collins’ interim leadership while we conduct a national search for a permanent successor.”
Ayers assumed office last month. A former provost at Georgia, he was tapped for the Clemson job in July days after Michigan State University (MSU) president Kevin Guskiewicz – Clemson’s initial choice to replace former president Jim Clements – jilted the school.
Ayers has inherited a host of issues in Tigertown – including scandals involving the former president and members of its board of trustees. Beyond the aforementioned financial problems, the school is also dealing with declining athletic competitiveness and questions related to the structural integrity of one of the dams protecting the campus from the waters of Lake Hartwell.
Clemson has also become a hotbed for divisive woke indoctrination – drawing the ire of conservative state lawmakers who oppose such programs being funded by taxpayer dollars.
***
RELATED | WOKE INDOCTRINATION CONTINUES AT CLEMSON
***
When Collins was promoted to her current position in April 2024, she was tasked with “ensuring the integrity, accuracy, compliance and feasibility of the total annual operating budget while providing enterprise-level budgeting, long-term planning, forecasting and data analysis.”
“In addition, Collins will strategically leverage opportunities to better utilize resources and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Clemson’s financial operations,” the release announcing her promotion noted.
“Clemson’s path towards strategic business transformation is an exciting one, and I am thrilled to join the journey as the new associate vice president for financial operations,” Collins said at the time. “I am eager to contribute to the finance and operations team, leveraging my experience to drive our institution forward so together we can embark on this transformative path and continue to shape Clemson’s future success.”
Collins was not quoted in this week’s Clemson release announcing her elevation on an interim basis.
Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we keep close tabs on the latest developments in Tigertown…
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
SOUND OFF…
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
