Drexel Names Helen Y Bowman Senior VP for Finance Treasurer and CFO

Drexel University President John A. Fry has named Helen Y. Bowman as the senior vice president for finance, treasurer and chief financial officer. Bowman, the vice president for finance and treasurer at Franklin & Marshall College, will begin her tenure at Drexel in the spring.

“I am delighted to welcome Helen to the Drexel community,” said Fry. “Her achievements and financial leadership at Franklin & Marshall have been exemplary. She will be a strong addition to Drexel’s executive team.”

Bowman will be responsible for the financial management of the assets of Drexel, the College of Medicine, and all of the University’s auxiliaries, subsidiaries and related entities. She will provide strategic financial planning and oversight for all accounting, cash management and reporting functions, as well as planning and administration of the University’s operating and capital budgets; student accounts, cashier and bursar functions; and the administration of the University’s endowment and investments. Additionally, she will serve as the primary liaison for all University banking relationships and rating agencies and support the University Board of Trustees Finance, Investment, and Audit committees.

Under Bowman’s leadership at Franklin & Marshall, the college achieved its highest financial margins in history and was upgraded by Standard & Poor’s in 2010 to a AA institution for improved financial management. Bowman comes to Drexel with nearly two decades of corporate and higher education financial experience. She worked as a business reengineering consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, spent six years with CIGNA Corp. in Philadelphia, becoming director of finance/controller for strategic initiatives and quality management within the Group Insurance division, and in 2006 was named associate vice president for finance at Franklin & Marshall College and then vice president for finance and treasurer.

Bowman graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her master’s degree in business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

News media contact: Niki Gianakaris, director, Drexel News Bureau 215-895-6741, 215-778-7752 (cell), ngianakaris@drexel.edu