Our Leadership

Laura E. Hubbard is responsible for the oversight of strategic financial planning and analysis of resource use and development. Named vice president for finance and administration in early 2012, she oversees UB Business Services, Emergency Management, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Parking and Transportation Services, Policy and Operational Excellence, Office of Real Estate and Property Management, Resource Planning, Office of Sustainability, University Facilities, and University Police. 

Chris Austin leads and directs the operations, communications and future planning for UB’s office of Parking and Transportation Services. Chris has more than twenty years of progressive professional management and leadership experience in the parking and transportation industries. He leads a team that manages over 16,000 surface parking spaces across our three campuses, while providing transportation options that transport over 2.5 million passengers annually, providing attractive, sustainable alternatives to single occupant travel. He has a combined twelve years of service on the Board of Parking Directors for the City of Buffalo and New York State Parking Association, and is a Certified Administrator of Public Parking (CAPP). 

As Chief of Police, Chris Bartolomei oversees the university’s 80 member police force that serves and protects our daily population of 40,000 students, staff, and visitors. With a commitment to community-oriented, fair and impartial policing strategies, UB’s police officers are dedicated to ensure our campuses are safe places to study, work, live, or visit, and where the peaceful free expression of ideas is protected. UB Police is also committed to professional excellence through the adoption of national best practices. Chris served as Accreditation Manager when UB became the first university police department in New York state to become accredited by the Division of Criminal Justice Services, and he remained in charge of policy development when the department was awarded national accreditations by both CALEA Recognition and IACLEA. He has over twenty years of progressive law enforcement experience, an MS in Criminal Justice Administration, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. Chris also currently serves as an Accreditation Assessor for the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Mark Coldren, as associate vice president for Human Resources (HR), shepherds the human resources’ mission at UB.  Before Mark joined UB he was the chief Human Resources officer at Ithaca College for eight years with overall responsibility for all HR functions, working closely with the president and president’s council to focus on strategic direction for the institution.  Mark has over 25 years of experience in HR. Previous to Ithaca, Mark worked at Syracuse University and had professional background and experience in software design, manufacturing and public education settings in human resources and learning, including overall HR strategic and functional responsibility, organizational development consulting, compensation systems, employee/labor relations and performance management. The scope of his responsibility includes HR for both the state and Research Foundation employees.

Beth Corry, as associate vice president for Business Services and controller, delivers innovative business solutions and services to UB through involvement in purchasing, payments, financial operations, printing, mail and Strategic Information Reporting Initiative (SIRI).  Beth has over 18 years of higher education experience in progressively responsible management positions at the university, most recently as the Director of Financial Services where she demonstrated her leadership in accounting and financial reporting, cost analysis, cash management, compliance adherence and financial data security.  Her wide range of experience includes knowledge of New York State, State University of New York (SUNY) and Research Foundation of SUNY financial practices, policies and financial systems. She maintains partnerships as a financial expert with various units such as Resource Planning, Research and Economic Development and Financial Advisory board.

Kara Kearney-Saylor, as director of Internal Audit, will lead, develop and manage a strategic and comprehensive risk assessment and internal audit program that supports the university’s mission, plans and goals. She will lead the development of the university’s annual audit plan, serve as the university’s point of contact for all external audit activities and work actively with SUNY Audit and Enterprise Risk Management initiatives.  Kara has served at Boston University since 2006 as Interim Director and co-chaired the Enterprise Risk Management Steering Committee and Information Security Committee. She previously served at Houghton Mifflin, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young in various audit and tax consultant roles. She is also a Certified Internal Auditor and has a Certification in Risk Management Assurance.

As Director of Resource Planning, Joe is responsible for leading, developing and managing a strategic and comprehensive resource and budget planning program in support of the university’s mission, plans and goals. He works with senior leadership and with academic and administrative units across the university in areas of budget planning and implementation, financial analysis, and budget policies and systems. Joe has served as Senior Resource Analyst and as a Resource Analyst in the Office of Resource Planning from 2014-2018.  Prior to those roles, he served as Associate Director of Business Operations in the Division of Athletics from 2011-2014 and as Business Operations Staff Assistant from 2006-2011. 

In his role as the Chief Sustainability Officer, Ryan connects people across the university with information, innovation and tools to reduce UB’s carbon footprint and enhance quality of life by improving environmental stewardship, increasing economic efficiency and augmenting cultural values and awareness. He specifically works closely with university partners and employs an integrated campus-wide strategy that leverages the university’s operations, curriculum, external engagement and research to further UB’s sustainability efforts. Previously, Ryan has held positions at UB as Associate Vice President for Government and Community Relations and as Chief of Staff for external affairs. Prior to joining UB, Ryan worked in Washington, D.C. and New Hampshire, advocating for greater environmental protection and democratic participation.

Tonga Pham, as associate vice president for University Facilities, leads an organization whose mission is to maintain a safe, healthy and attractive campus environment by providing direct and advisory services in the design, construction and maintenance of the university’s new and existing facilities.  Tonga, with over 20 years of experience in various management and technical positions, comes to UB from Ryerson University in Toronto where she monitored the management of the physical infrastructure of the university and ensured the functional, social and aesthetic aspects of the physical campus and its relationship to the community.   As a business person, she has been responsible for managing both capital and operational budgets of increasing size and maintaining a four million square foot campus located in the urban center of Toronto.

Ronald Place is the Director of Real Estate and Property Management (REPM) for UB. REPM is a new department established in 2014 and handles real estate transactions including new property acquisition, leasing, state agreements, UB and partner downtown property coordination.  In 2006 Ron joined UB as Associate Director of Space Planning and Management and was the Acting Director of the Capital Planning Group from 2012 to 2014. He has been actively involved in UB's master plans and the relocation of the School of Medicine downtown.