His job includes everything from financial planning to telephone services, but TCU’s recently appointed Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Brian Gutierrez says he hopes to make his biggest impact by building relationships with people. “The small number of people on this campus makes it possible to have a personal impact,” said Gutierrez, a Fort Worth native. “I am excited to reach out to students and for the opportunity for students to get to know who the chief financial officer of their university is and what he does.”

In June, TCU hired Gutierrez, a financial and business adviser, who took on a role he refers to as “TCU’s financial steward,” and one his administrative assistant, Charlotte Hudspeth, calls the “busiest job on campus.”

“There are great opportunities before us with facilities,” Gutierrez said. He spoke of plans for a new university union building, student housing projects and building projects for AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Education.

Gutierrez said he wants to make sure students have sufficient resources and quality facilities.

“My job here is to ensure that the university’s resources are maximized to realize its mission statement and to benefit the faculty so that they can benefit students,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said he looks forward to improving business processes by helping departments realize cost savings.

“I hope that by the time they leave, students will be able to clearly see the value that TCU offered them,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said the stage has been set for a number of opportunities to carry on a great tradition.

TCU’s Director of Business Services Travis Cook, whose office reports to Gutierrez, said he has been a joy to be around.

“He is a very exciting guy with good ideas,” Cook said. “I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

Gutierrez has five children, ranging in age from 6 to 16. He said he and his family are happy to be living in Fort Worth because of the familiarity.

“It was definitely an attraction to be back at home in Fort Worth,” Gutierrez said.

Since obtaining a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, Gutierrez has worked almost exclusively in the education system, serving as vice president in the Dallas County Community College system and associate vice president and controller at the University of Texas.

Gutierrez said he chose to work in education to follow in the footsteps of his father, who retired as CFO of Fort Worth Independent School District.

“It is a vocation I always admired,” Gutierrez said. “I admired the work that my dad did; he helped make people’s lives better. He showed me there are noteworthy and plentiful challenges in this field, and I wanted to follow in that vein.”

In his last job, Gutierrez worked on business processes and finance at UT. He said his time at UT was a transition time from working at community colleges to working in the university system.

“The transition happened a lot faster than I thought, and I was able to make significant impacts at UT,” Gutierrez said. “Moving along the way, I realized that I could function as CFO of a major university.”

Gutierrez said he began looking around for a job in that capacity, and the opportunity at TCU fell in his lap as the spot was vacated by Carol Campbell, who was hired to work as vice president and CFO at Arizona State University.

“There are exciting and interesting things on the horizon for TCU,” Gutierrez said.