Dear UMBC Community,
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Gamze Zeytinci as UMBC’s vice president for administration and finance and chief financial officer. Gamze brings more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience in higher education finance and administration, as well as a deep commitment to the public-serving mission of higher education. She will begin in the role at UMBC on July 1.
Gamze will join us from George Washington University, where she currently serves as associate vice president for budget and financial analysis. In that role, she has provided executive leadership of financial planning and budgeting for the university and supported capital planning and long-term financial strategy. Her experience is both broad and deep, spanning all aspects of financial strategy and operational excellence. She is particularly adept at navigating change and leading through uncertainty with a commitment to collaboration, transparency, and trust.
She served previously as senior associate dean for finance and operations at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where her responsibilities spanned finance, human resources, information technology, campus operations, and student administrative services across campuses in Washington, D.C.; Bologna, Italy; and Nanjing, China. She was instrumental in the transformation of the school’s financial and operational model and the development of long-term financial plans that strengthened institutional resilience and sustainability. She also played a central role in expanding the school’s academic portfolio through the development of new degree programs and participated in the design and planning for the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C.
Deeply committed to advancing equity and access to higher education, Gamze partnered with SAIS enrollment leaders to reimagine the school’s financial aid strategy and expand its aid program, helping to make excellence accessible.
Gamze began her career in higher education at American University, where she held a series of progressively senior roles over more than a decade, most recently as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and earlier in the School of Public Affairs. She holds an MBA and a master’s degree in computer science and information systems from American University. Gamze trained as a pharmacist in her native Istanbul and ran her own pharmacy before transitioning to a career in higher education in the United States.
Gamze possesses deeply relevant experience, an appreciation for the breadth of disciplines that comprise our academic mission, and a shared belief in our core value of inclusive excellence. I am excited to partner with her in advancing UMBC’s vision.
My sincerest thanks to the search committee and the entire Division of Administration and Finance for their continued dedication and support, and to the broad UMBC community for its patience as we have carried out the search for this critical leadership role. I know you all join me in welcoming Gamze to UMBC and looking forward to our work together.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby