Managing MMA Finances

MARCH 16, 2020, HIS FIRST DAY on the job as MMA’s Vice President of Financial and Institutional Services, Richard Rosen joined members of President Brennan’s emergency committee assembled to address the pandemic crisis. Two days later, the Academy announced the campus would close and students would return home to complete the spring term remotely. “The pivot by the faculty and staff was remarkable,” said Rosen.

He has since also observed faculty and staff ”have taken great care to prudently manage budgets.”

“With their help,” said Rosen, “we initiated a Budget Recovery plan designed to shepherd resources diminished by the sudden and severe economic hit and then re-deploy spending to fund never anticipated health and safety measures – all related to COVID-19.”

Rosen initiated a budget recovery plan to shepherd resources during the pandemic.

Rosen also cites long-term trends presenting financial challenges. “MMA must continue to deliver superior hands-on-instruction while keeping costs affordable so that every student with the desire and ability is able to attend and thrive,” he said. “Also, the 20-year trend of declining state appropriation as a percent of the Academy’s total budget highlights the necessity to diversify and develop new sources of revenue to maintain affordable tuition.”

He sees numerous opportunities ahead for MMA undergraduate, graduate, and career students, including training opportunities at the Center for Professional Mariner Development, strategic partnerships with government, industry, and philanthropy, and the continuing diversification of the Academy community.

Rosen’s connection with Maine stretches from his most recent job as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services to his childhood. “I grew up in Bucksport and worked summers and after school in my family’s retail store,” he said. “At age 15, with my new driver’s license in hand, I enthusiastically made daily deliveries of inventory from the Bucksport store to our summer retail shop on Main Street in Castine.”

Photo: Billy R. Sims

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