Ms. Lettie Cowie has accepted Vanguard University’s invitation to become our next Vice President of Business and Finance. Lettie has served in a variety of finance and business related capacities over the years.
In 1985 she began her career in public education first as the fund manager and bookkeeper for the Lake Elsinore Union High School District, which became the Temecula Unified School District where she became the coordinator of facilities planning and construction facilities analyst during a period of explosive growth.
In a five-year period, she was responsible for building 14 schools and had 7 more in process. She eventually became the assistant superintendent of planning and development for Anaheim City School District and was responsible for budgeting, operations, facilities and IT. In 2002 Lettie started her own company, Colbi Technologies, Inc., to serve school districts with Account-ability software for project management, budgeting, and accounting for school building programs, as well as accounting support, training, and consulting.
Lettie serves on a number of professional boards and organizations, including the Council of Great City Schools, an invitation-only organization representing the 100 largest school systems in the nation. She provides training for the California Association of School Business Officials on internal controls and is a regular instructor for their Chief Business Officials Boot Camp. She is also a frequent presenter for the Chief Business Officials Mentor Program, the Superintendent Academy of the Association of California School Administrators and the School Facilities Leadership Academy.
She has been called on to give testimony at state and federal congressional hearings and has twice been an invited speaker to White House Staff. She has tremendous expertise in financial management, facilities management (including construction), strategic planning and in change management.
This past year Lettie has provided strong leadership on our Board of Trustees (from which she has now resigned) as Chair of the Finance Committee. She has worked closely with Bob Allison and other Finance Committee members to begin building our set of internal controls and other policies and procedures to ensure the continued strengthening of Vanguard.
Lettie has also been involved in Christian ministry for almost 40 years. Youth ministry, Christian education and missions support have been her main focus including work in Switzerland, New Zealand, Spain, California, and Greece with the Assemblies of God and Youth with a Mission’s Mercy Ministries International. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Royal Family Kids Camps and is a member of Newport Mesa Church.
