FAMU Rehires Richard Schweigert as Interim CFO Again

A Familiar Face Returns to FAMU's Finance Office

Florida A&M University has once again turned to Richard W. Schweigert to steady its finance operation, naming him interim chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration while the school continues its hunt for a permanent replacement 1. The move, confirmed in FAMU's own news listings, is notable less for its novelty than for its repetition: Schweigert previously held this exact post at FAMU starting in 2019, and his second tour arrives as the university grapples with a staffing shortage in its Controller's Office and lingering fallout from a rocky stretch of financial audits 189.

FAMU's public materials offer few specifics about the circumstances of this latest appointment beyond confirming that the search for a permanent finance chief is ongoing 89. But Schweigert's history at the university, combined with recent Board of Governors scrutiny of FAMU's finances, gives the announcement more weight than a routine interim placement would typically carry.

Why Schweigert, Again

When Schweigert first arrived at FAMU in August 2019, he was brought in as a crisis-management hire following the forced resignation of then-CFO Wanda Ford, whose departure came after an internal review found the university had used unauthorized auxiliary funds to cover athletics department expenses 1011. That shake-up also claimed two other finance staffers, budget director Ronica Mathis and controller Tiffany Holmes, leaving the division without what one account described as its "top three financial staffers" 11.

Schweigert's résumé made him a plausible stabilizing figure. He had spent a decade, from 2006 to 2016, as CFO and director of government relations for the Colorado State University System, where he helped oversee a financial operation valued at roughly $1 billion across multiple campuses and affiliated entities 10. He also had run CSU-Global Campus and held finance leadership roles at Mesa State College and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education 10. At FAMU, his portfolio stretched well past accounting to include information technology, human resources, facilities and construction, and business and auxiliary services 1011.

A Track Record of Confronting Uncomfortable Numbers

During his first stint, Schweigert developed a reputation for pushing back on optimistic budget assumptions, particularly in athletics. After FAMU trustees approved a $10.2 million athletics budget built on projected revenue of $8.9 million, Schweigert flagged that figure as "aggressive," arguing a three-year trend supported a more conservative $8.4 million estimate 15. That reassessment helped expose a deficit that could swell past $2 million, prompting President Larry Robinson to order an athletics hiring freeze and assemble a 40-person assessment team 1516.

The fallout eventually led FAMU to eliminate its men's tennis and cross country programs and cut roughly $800,000 in athletics costs, part of a broader effort to close a projected $2.4 million deficit 1617. Schweigert was also involved in resolving a $7 million shortfall in a $125 million financing package for a 700-bed residence and dining hall project, after original construction estimates came in roughly 12% short of what bids actually required 1819. Board materials show he pulled the additional funds from housing, parking, dining and Title III reserves, while also introducing quarterly budget reviews and succession planning within the division 19.

Robinson credited Schweigert with helping build "a sustainable first-class business infrastructure" before handing the permanent CFO role to Alan D. Robertson, a former Morehouse College administrator, in December 2019 20.

A Pattern of Turnover That Has Outlasted Any Single Hire

What makes Schweigert's return notable is the sheer churn that followed his first departure. Robertson's tenure gave way to subsequent CFOs including Gloria Walker and, most recently, Rebecca Brown, whose exit followed pointed criticism from Florida's Board of Governors earlier in 2025. Board members said FAMU's audit reports revealed delayed bank reconciliations, vendor payment delays, weak internal controls and insufficient staff engagement 13. Board of Governors member Aubrey Edge said bluntly that the CFO "failed pretty miserably," while fellow member Eric Silagy suggested that in the private sector such a breakdown would have resulted in swift dismissal rather than any pay increase 13.

FAMU's own audit leadership acknowledged the deeper pattern: seven different people had served as CFO since 2018, with an average tenure of just 11 months 13. That instability, officials said, has repeatedly disrupted staffing in the very functions responsible for reconciliations and reporting. At the time of the Board of Governors' criticism, FAMU had a key comptroller vacancy along with three or four other open accounting positions, including a CPA role 13.

In response, FAMU elevated Nichole Murry to acting CFO and brought in the accounting firm Cherry Bekaert to help rebuild capacity, along with an interim controller, an assistant controller, additional general-accounting staff and a CPA audit staff member 14. Athletics separately added a business manager and two fiscal specialists 14. University leadership described weekly progress reports and a monthly financial scorecard as part of the effort to restore order 1314.

The Stakes of the CFO Seat

FAMU's own posting for the permanent Senior Vice President and Vice President for Finance and Administration/CFO role underscores how central the position is to the university's operations. The job description calls for oversight of financial planning, controller and treasury functions, budgeting, procurement and human resources, along with responsibility for a multi-year financial model, audit readiness and reporting to the Board of Trustees and Board of Governors 12. The successful candidate is expected to serve as a top strategic adviser to FAMU President Marva Johnson, who took office as the university continues its search 12.

That breadth of responsibility explains why FAMU's recurring CFO vacancies have proven so disruptive. A university finance office carries institutional memory about reconciliation timelines, vendor relationships, state reporting obligations and the history behind old account balances — knowledge that erodes quickly when leadership turns over as often as it has at FAMU.

Broader Context: A Sector Where CFOs Are Increasingly in the Spotlight

FAMU's leadership churn arrives amid a period when chief financial officers more broadly are drawing outsized attention, albeit for different reasons. In the corporate world, finance chiefs have increasingly been elevated into the top job itself, as seen with ConocoPhillips naming CFO Andy O'Brien to succeed retiring CEO Ryan Lance 2. Elsewhere, CFO transitions have become notable business stories in their own right: Charter Communications announced that CFO Jessica Fischer would step down in October, with Kevin Howard named interim CFO 3; KeyCorp created a new deputy CFO and chief strategy officer post 4; advertising agency GALE named Jonathan Menezes as its new finance chief 5; and Klarna's search for a New York-based CFO was read by recruiters as a signal of the company's ambitions with Wall Street 6. Even Florida's statewide Chief Financial Officer post, a political office overseeing the Department of Financial Services, is on the ballot in 2026 after Blaise Ingoglia was appointed to fill a vacancy left by Jimmy Patronis 7.

Against that backdrop, FAMU's repeated reliance on Schweigert reads as a defensive maneuver rather than a strategic one — a university choosing proven familiarity over the risks of another untested hire while it works to rebuild the accounting bench beneath the executive suite. The real test of this second tour is not whether Schweigert can keep FAMU's books moving in the short term, but whether he can help the university finally build financial infrastructure durable enough to survive its next transition at the top.