Pat Hunt

Patricia W. Hunt, Director of Finance and Facilities for the West Virginia Higher Education System, has been named Vice Chancellor for Finance & Operations at UNC Asheville. The appointment was made by the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees at its meeting May 16, upon recommendation by UNC Asheville Chancellor Anne Ponder.  Hunt will start her new post in mid-July.

In her current position, Hunt serves both the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, which is the statewide coordinating agency for 11 public undergraduate and graduate institutions, and the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education, the coordinating agency for 10 community and technical colleges. Hunt provides leadership to the institutions’ chief financial officers; coordinates budget development and state allocations; and oversees the campuses’ master planning, capital projects and bond financing.

Hunt has held a number of finance positions in higher education and private industry during the past 25 years. Prior to her current position, she served as vice president for financial and administrative services at Lord Fairfax Community College, a 6,000-student institution in Middletown, Va.  Previously, she was controller at Hollins University, a private liberal arts college in Roanoke, Va. Earlier in her career, she was controller for a number of petroleum companies, including the Haywood Oil Company in Waynesville.

She holds a master’s degree in information systems from Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, and a master’s degree in accountancy and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. She is currently pursuing her executive doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and is a licensed certified public accountant.

Hunt and her husband have two grown children, Shawn Hunt and April Sutton. April lives in Waynesville with her family, which includes the Hunts’ first granddaughter.