FAMU Budget Director Ronica Mathis and Comptroller & Assistant Vice President Tiffany Holmes were relieved of their duties yesterday. Holmes is the wife of former FAMU football coach Earl Holmes. Archie Bouie, Vice President of Administrative and Financial Services will provide oversight of the Budget and Controller’s Office in the interim.
Rumors of Mathis and Holmes impending departures have swirled around campus since Friday.
Mathis was responsible for the operational management and administrative direction of the Budget Office. Her duties included formulating & administering the University's Annual Operating Budget and ensuring appropriate expenditure of all funds allocated. In recent years Mathis also managed the budget for the Athletic Department.
Holmes' duties included ensuring that the University's financial records are accurate and in compliance with statements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, FAMU BOT and Florida BOG policies, procedures and regulations; and pertinent State and Federal regulations.
The dismissals come just days after Wanda Ford, vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer abruptly resigned.
Rumors of Mathis and Holmes impending departures have swirled around campus since Friday.
Mathis was responsible for the operational management and administrative direction of the Budget Office. Her duties included formulating & administering the University's Annual Operating Budget and ensuring appropriate expenditure of all funds allocated. In recent years Mathis also managed the budget for the Athletic Department.
Holmes' duties included ensuring that the University's financial records are accurate and in compliance with statements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, FAMU BOT and Florida BOG policies, procedures and regulations; and pertinent State and Federal regulations.
The dismissals come just days after Wanda Ford, vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer abruptly resigned.
According to sources close to the situation, Ford’s sudden departure came after she was given the choice to either resign or be fired. The ultimatum came after what the university described late last evening “as a result of an audit follow-up that indicated auxiliary funds had been transferred to cover a shortfall in the athletic budget.”
The transfer in question was between $1.5 and $3 million dollars, FAMU BOT Chair Kelvin Lawson told the BOG this morning. Anything over $1 million requires two signatures-- the president’s and the CFOs. Persons familiar with the matter said, that the transfer was made without the president’s signature. However, the same source indicated that email records may indicate otherwise.
Ford assumed the role of vice president and CFO in December 2016, first as interim, and was made permanent in July 2018. In her role as CFO, Ford worked very closely with University President Larry Robinson.
Joyce Ingram, associate vice president of human resources, will serve as interim vice president for Finance and Administration/CFO while the university conducts a search. Ingram becomes the university’s sixth VP for Finance and Administration since July 2007. She follows Teresa Hardee, Joe Barker, Dale Cassidy, Angela Poole and Wanda Ford.
This story is developing. (updated at 10:11 a.m.)
This story is developing. (updated at 10:11 a.m.)