SU Names New VP and CFO

After a comprehensive national search, Chris Malins has been named Seattle University’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Currently, Malins serves as Associate Vice President for Finance and University Treasurer at the University of Washington. He will join Seattle University on August 28. 

With his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Washington, Malins joined his alma mater as a research accountant in 1994, and has steadily taken on increasing leadership responsibilities. As Associate Vice President, he manages a staff of 20 and oversees debt issuance and credit management, financial forecasting, treasury accounting and operations and cash management and banking.

To this role Malins brings a forward-thinking and solutions-oriented approach, as evidenced by his efforts to help steer UW through the fiscal obstacles posed by the COVID pandemic. His sharp intellect and experience as an innovative leader in higher education will greatly help SU realize the goals of the Reignited Strategic Directions.

Malins has spoken fondly of his family’s ties to SU. His father, Dr. Donald Malins, ’54, was a distinguished Seattle University alumnus who enjoyed a very successful career as an oceanographic researcher and in 1995 became a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected for this critical role and am looking forward to partnering with President Peñalver, the finance team and the broader campus to continue to forward the important mission of Seattle University,” says Malins. “On a personal note, my father was a student at SU in the 1950s. It’s about time a Malins came back to campus!”