Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Viton as UNLV’s new Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Financial Officer, effective March 23.

Chris will be very familiar to many of you as he served for years as a member of UNLV’s Business Affairs leadership team, first as Controller and later as Associate Vice President of Financial Services. For the past two years, he has overseen fiscal policy and management for higher education institutions throughout the state as Vice Chancellor for Budget and Finance and Chief Financial Officer for the Nevada System of Higher Education. 

In his return role here at UNLV, Chris will oversee UNLV’s capital financing and debt management, ensure financial resources are aligned to support our university’s mission, and support the entire Business Affairs team, which provides many vital services to our campus. Chris’ breadth of experience and steady leadership related to strategic finance and budget policy, both at UNLV and at the state level, will benefit the university as we navigate a dynamic financial landscape for higher education in Nevada and nationwide. 

This was not an easy decision as we had other exceptionally qualified candidates. I offer my deepest appreciation to Elise Bunkowski, who stepped up to serve as UNLV’s interim CFO for this past year. This was no small task, and Elise performed her duties with great skill. I am also pleased to announce that Elise will remain with UNLV as a member of the Business Affairs leadership team.

Finally, I want to thank Vice President for Research David Hatchett and members of the search committee for their work to identify notable and worthy candidates for this position, as well as all their work throughout the interview process and the campus visits.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Chris back to UNLV! 

Warm wishes,

Chris Heavey
UNLV Interim President