Interim President Aondover Tarhule has announced that Dr. Daniel Petree will serve as interim vice president for Finance and Planning, effective January 2, 2024. Dan Stephens, who has served in the role since 2017, will retire on January 1, 2024. Petree will serve until a permanent VP is appointed. 

Petree has a long and successful career as a tenured professor, department and division chair, dean and vice president of finance and planning and chief financial officer during his over 25 years at both private and public sector colleges and universities. He previously was dean of the School of Business and Economics at Brockport State University in New York. He also served as founding dean of the College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.   

He has served in audit and accounting, contract administration, consulting, and as the first CEO of the Labor Management Council of Greater Kansas City. Petree retired from full-time work in 2017 but has continued his service as interim dean and CFO in public and private universities throughout the United States. 

“I am pleased to welcome Daniel to Illinois State,” said Interim President Tarhule. “He brings a broad range of skills and expertise to this vital role. He also understands the unique challenges and opportunities facing higher education and will play a crucial part in helping shape the University’s fiscal strategies for the short term and beyond.” 

Petree earned a Ph.D in labor and human resources from the University of Kansas and also holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in business accounting from Rockhurst University.