“Most of the news wasn’t about my position”: Shaffer speaks on role as CFO, local media coverage

Pictured is the outside of the second floor of Cutler Hall, where Ohio University Chief Financial Officer Deb Shaffer’s office is located. Shaffer made headlines in Athens in September 2020 after it was discovered she accepted a $100,000 retention bonus in July during layoffs at Ohio U.

“Shaffer” is a name that frequently appeared in Athens headlines in recent months. Despite this, Deb Shaffer has refrained from making any public comments.

Shaffer, the Ohio University chief financial officer and senior vice president for finance and administration, first made the news on Sept. 18 when an article published by The Athens NEWS reported that she had accepted a $100,000 retention bonus in July 2020. 

She said her reasoning for refusing to comment is simple. 

“Most of the news wasn’t about my position. I feel very accountable and responsible for my professional position at Ohio University,” Shaffer said. 

Shaffer said that while she understands her decision to maintain silence was interpreted in different ways, she believes it was the right choice. 

“I’ve gotten a lot of positive support from people who basically appreciated the fact that I didn’t continue it, so my silence was appreciated by a fair number of people. I realize that there are also people who were frustrated by it,” she said.

Shaffer’s daughter, Samantha Moon, wrote a letter to the editor of The Athens NEWS in response to an article published in The New Political in late February that profiled Shaffer after being declined an interview.

Her daughter wrote the letter, which was published Feb. 24, unprompted and against her advice, Shaffer said. 

“She is an incredible young woman. Having said that, I understand people want to understand my professional role and my responsibilities here. It is very difficult when your family is brought into it,” Shaffer said.

She said it can be challenging to separate her personal and professional lives, especially due to the high-profile nature of her position at Ohio U. 

“I think when you have anyone above the executive leadership, your personal life is part of your professional life, just because it’s a 24/7 job and your family becomes so heavily impacted,” Shaffer said. “It’s been more difficult when the public doesn’t permit you to have that separation of public and personal.”

Shaffer admitted that it can be difficult to hold an executive position at a university. 

“The position allows me to interact with people throughout the university, so that’s fantastic. Challenging is that, in the same way, people think they know you and they don’t,” she said.

Her role is not as autonomous as some would like to think, Shaffer said. 

“I think everybody believes that I somehow am sitting in a room making those decisions in isolation, without understanding of the impact that they have,” she said.

Ohio U Executive Director of Communication Services Carly Leatherwood spoke on Shaffer’s role in the decision-making process at Ohio U. 

“Deb isn’t the only person making decisions with regard to the budget and the layoffs that we had last year, and I feel like sometimes people feel like it’s Deb’s fault, when she’s not the single decision maker,” she said. 

Leatherwood was present for the interview conducted with Shaffer. 

Ohio U has laid off over 400 employees as a result of projected budget shortfalls at the university. More than 200 faculty and administrators, 140 skilled trade workers and 81 clerical and technical employees were part of the layoffs. 

Mandatory furloughs, which began on July 1, were imposed on all Ohio U faculty and staff. The mandatory furloughs ended at the end of March 2021, earlier than originally planned. According to an Ohio U press release, the mandatory furloughs saved the university approximately $9.5 million for the 2021 fiscal year.

According to her Ohio U contract, Shaffer is set to earn another $100,000 retention bonus on June 30, 2023. Shaffer’s annual base salary is $327,726. She voluntarily took a 10% pay cut during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result has made $294,953 in addition to her retention bonus this year. Her salary reduction began on July 1, 2020, and will end on July 1, 2021. 

In addition to criticism from the Athens community and beyond, Shaffer has faced criticism from within the university. In May 2020, the Ohio U Faculty Senate approved a vote of no confidence in Shaffer and Ohio U President Duane Nellis.

The vote of no confidence alleged that Shaffer and Nellis have worsened Ohio U’s financial crisis, which has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote came after Ohio U announced the first wave of faculty and staff layoffs in May 2020. 

Shaffer reiterated that she believes many assume she has more control over Ohio U’s budget than she actually does.

“I think people assume that because of my title I make all decisions associated with finances and budget, and that’s just not the way any business works,” Shaffer said. “It’s my responsibility to report and to understand how our decisions will impact us today, and in the future, but I am just one person on a leadership team that makes decisions about how we execute our financial position.”

When asked if she thinks her role is commonly misunderstood by the public because of her job title Shaffer said, “I think it is here. I don’t want to use the word public at large, but I think here it has been in the last couple years.”

Shaffer said she hopes those critical of her role at Ohio U take the time to educate themselves on the university’s financial situation. 

“I think everybody has the right to ask questions and to be informed, and I think that one of our biggest challenges is making sure that we effectively communicate the decisions we’re making and why we’re making them,” she said. “We try very hard to communicate about our financial position and our budget. It’s incredibly complex, and so I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding or misinformation, and so I think it’s fair for people to be inquisitive or ask critical questions. I fully accept that. I just would encourage people to get the information before making judgement or determinations.” 

Shaffer said she knows her role at Ohio U can seem complicated because so many departments across the university report to her.   

“A lot of the (university) that’s not student service and isn’t academic is probably the easiest way to think about it,” she said when describing her job.

In addition to managing Ohio U’s finances, Shaffer serves as treasurer for the Ohio University Board of Trustees and the Ohio University Foundation Board. She is also CFO of the Foundation Board. Shaffer acknowledged the importance of her team in helping her manage the numerous departments that report to her.

“I have a really strong team, so each one of those areas has the equivalent of an associate vice president that manages them, and they’re incredibly competent and strong, so that makes it more of a team effort,” she said. 

Shaffer said the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected her work at Ohio U. She said she’s struggled to find a work-life balance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would say I probably find it the same way everybody else does, which is not very well during the last year,” she said. “I think one of the challenges of the pandemic and everybody working remote is that you lost barriers. Everybody lost the concept of a workday and that workday just became 24/7.”

Despite Ohio U’s ongoing financial crisis, which the COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened, Shaffer is confident in the financial health of Ohio University. 

“I think we will continue to make progress to move towards a balanced budget,” she said. “It’s not going to happen in one year. We had a number of years of changing revenues and it’s going to take us a number of years to right-size or align our expenses with those revenues, but I have every belief we will get there.”