February 19, 2021
Dear Members of the Bellarmine Community,
I am exceedingly pleased to announce that Daniel Frockt, chief financial officer for Louisville Metro Government since 2015, will become Bellarmine University’s Vice President for Finance on July 1.
Mr. Frockt, who was selected following a national search, replaces Bob Zimlich, who is retiring after 39 years at Bellarmine.
“Daniel Frockt distinguished himself in a highly competitive national pool of candidates,” said Dr. Paul Gore, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, who co-chaired the search committee with Bellarmine Trustee Barry Fields ‘88. “His extensive financial experience and business acumen will be invaluable to Bellarmine University as it fully implements its strategic plan, launches community engagement and partnership initiatives, and deploys several highly anticipated academic programs. I look forward to working very closely with Daniel to promote academic excellence and innovation at Bellarmine University.”
Mr. Frockt will build upon the strong financial foundation that Bob Zimlich and his staff have managed through challenging circumstances, especially during the pandemic this past year. His lengthy experience in ensuring that Metro government had the resources to fulfill its strategic plan will support Bellarmine in realizing its own ambitious goals.
“I recognize that there are differences in financial scale between my current organization and Bellarmine, but I have always been more concerned with the mission of the organization more than the number of zeroes on its balance sheet,” he says. “Like most of humankind, I desire to be part of something larger than myself where I can improve our community, have an impact, and take pride in the outcomes.”
As CFO of Louisville Metro, Mr. Frockt is responsible for the financial integrity of the government as well as customer service to 40 internal departments and agencies, the regional private sector, and residents of Louisville Metro. He leads approximately 160 employees in the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is responsible for the city’s finances, including its $1 billion annual operating and capital budget. As a member of Mayor Greg Fischer’s cabinet, he provides input on strategic plan development and implementation.
Before he was CFO, Mr. Frockt was Louisville’s budget director for a decade.
Mayor Fischer praises Mr. Frockt as a wise and committed member of his leadership team. “With a calm yet firm hand, Daniel has helped us through economic good times and challenges, always approaching the budget process with a compassionate, systematic and creative approach,” he said in a news release issued today.
A Louisville native, Mr. Frockt holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
“I had the privilege of spending three weeks on Bellarmine’s campus in the summer of 1988 as a participant in the Governor’s School for the Arts program and have witnessed the extraordinary growth and transformation of the campus over the last three decades,” he says. “It is inspiring to think of the further transformations (for both the Louisville community and the student population) over the next three decades with the completion of a fund-raising campaign, a honed strategic plan, and Dr. Donovan’s leadership.”
Mr. Frockt’s experience in key areas of financial management, including budgeting and planning, and a record of successful, progressive leadership in a comparably complex setting have prepared him well for this important senior leadership position at Bellarmine. We are thrilled to be welcoming him and look forward to introducing him to more members of our campus community, our trustees and alumni.
I want to thank Dr. Gore and Barry Fields for their excellent work on the search, along with the other committee members: Trustee Don Berg; Dr. Helen-Grace Ryan, Vice President for Student Affairs; Dr. Mike Marshall, Vice President for Enrollment, Marketing and Communication; Dr. Joy Jacobs-Lawson, Associate Professor of Psychology; Tina Kauffmann, Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations; and Trey Grevious, Student Government Association president. The committee was assisted by Isaacson-Miller, an executive search firm, and was supported by Calene Baldwin.
Susan M. Donovan, Ph.D.