Tim Oliver has been appointed to vice president of business services.

Although new to Oxnard College, Oliver is not new to the realm of education.

Oliver started, and ran for five years, his own education business working directly with the University of California and international universities doing professional development programs and executive training. Moreover, his previous job was at Pierce College in Woodland Hills as Vice President of Administrative Services for seven years.

Succeeding his predecessor, Ken Bailey, Oliver also brings diverse experience that runs the gamut from his 30 years in private industry, at companies such as Yamaha and Kubota Tractors to the aerospace industry.

Oliver has earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California, a M.B.A. from Cal State Dominguez and also a Post Graduate Certificate in Industrial Relations from UCLA.

His primary responsibility will be to manage fiscal and financial management. Also, he oversees all of the colleges’ budgets that entail the other departments and divisions within the school. Furthermore, relegated to Oliver is the roughly $100-million bond program for school improvements.

Oliver says he has many goals that he hopes to achieve. In the near-term he says he would like to implement “a viable strategic planning system … where we’re improving our ability to plan and advance and to develop strategies so that we can identify our goals and objectives and prioritize them.” Well thought-out and organized plans are one of his keys in maintaining a fiscally sound budget.

Another of his goals is “to put into place policies and procedures and to train people throughout the college to be able to effectively and consistently implement the strategies,” he said, that will help keep the allocation of funds in lockstep with the available budget.

One burden that has been placed on Oliver from the beginning is the the current economic crisis that California is experiencing. “As it stands right now, there is cutting in what we call our categorical programs which are funded through the governor,” Oliver said. “He’s looking at a 10% cut for fiscal year ’08-’09.”

With the restraints on funds, that is why he feels it “is critical that we establish our key objectives and goals to match our resources.”

Oliver feels that Oxnard is “the perfect fit,” since he is a Camarillo native and has two children of his own currently enrolled in the California Community College system.