Miguel Navarro
Staff Writer
Avo Kechichian, vice president and chief financial officer for the University, gave his final lecture Tuesday in La Fetra Auditorium before an audience of roughly 40 community members.
Titled “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A 40 Year Retrospective,” the talk reflected on VP’s long tenure here.
“I have invested in the people reporting to me,” Kechichian said. “In their confidence and success, the University of La Verne in general and the finance office in particular have become more united.”
Kechichian began his talk describing his challenging childhood growing up in Lebanon. Kechichian was born in 1958 in Bourdj Hamoud, Lebanon, where he lived with his parents and two sisters during a time of civil war in the area.
Around age 16 he served in the local neighborhood watch program from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. During the day, he still attended school, and his parents realized it was time for him to move on.
As he began to prepare for college, he chose to attend school in the United States and ended up at the University of La Verne, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Throughout his college career, he worked a variety of jobs to help pay his tuition, including vacuuming the library, picking up trash, and gardening at the University.
After graduating in 1985, Kechichian was hired into the payroll office. He served here for over four decades.
Despite the adversity he faced, he said his background and upbringing motivated him toward his career success.
“I am a descendant of genocide survivors,” Kechichian said. “My grandfather was born in a village called Hassan Bay, which is in southeastern Turkey, and my father was born in Syria.”
Throughout the lecture, Kechichian discussed the positive and challenging aspects of his job working to keep the University of La Verne financially stable.
He broke down these experiences over the four decades into three categories: “the ugly,” “the bad,” and “the good,” which he presented in that order.
The ugly part of the lecture focused on the past scandals the University has faced, which led to lower enrollment and put the University in financial difficulties.
He talked about a period in 2019, when an apparent racially motivated incident led to classes being canceled and the eventual arrest of a student.
Then came the COVID 19 pandemic.
“We experienced a big drop in enrollments and tuition revenue, creating another budget crisis,” Kechichian said.
He covered the bad he experienced, which centered around a period where the University struggled financially.
He attributed management not showing accountability as a reason the University has seen a dip in enrollment over the years.
“We, the management, have to own these failures,” Kechichian said.
Kechichian closed by presenting the good. He talked about how proud he was to help implement programs at the University that saw financial gain.
He helped foster both English learning services and professional development courses.
“I’m proud of two areas that I created. One was the English language services,” Kechichian said. “We were generating up to $1 million in revenue.”
Throughout his four decades of managing the budget for the University, the University has persevered, he said.
“We have always survived and will continue to do so.”
Now as he enters retirement Kechichian is excited for the future.
“I am leaving the University in a strong financial position,” Kechichian said.
For the audience, the lecture served as a way to learn about the finances at the University, and they appreciated his transparency.
“I like the fact that he was very transparent about all the ugly, the good, and the bad aspects that he saw at the University of La Verne,” said Danny Zeng, chemistry research instrument manager.
“He has done a number of things during his time here in community service and finances,” said Al Clark emeritus professor of humanities, who introduced Kechichian at the start of the event.
Miguel Navarro can be reached at miguel.navarro@laverne.edu.
Miguel Navarro is a senior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism, and is a staff writer for the Campus Times. He also serves as a broadcaster at the University of La Verne, and he hopes to one day work in sports media.
Antonio Ceniceros is a senior photography major and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. He is also the lead photographer and social media manager for the University of La Verne’s football team, and currently specializes in sports, concert, and fashion photography. You can find his work on Instagram at @flicksbycinco..
