Campus & Community

New FAS CFO named

Julie Joncas
Courtesy of Julie Joncas

Julie Joncas brings more than two decades of leadership experience in finance and higher education

Julie Joncas, M.B.A. ’00, has been named the next chief financial officer for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Currently CFO at Harvard Medical School, she will begin her role in the FAS on August 24.

In a message to the community, FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky, said, “Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation for combining rigorous financial stewardship with thoughtful, collaborative leadership, helping complex organizations navigate change while strengthening decision-making and advancing their academic, research, and clinical missions.” 

Joncas has served as CFO at HMS since 2022. In that role, she oversees a $900 million annual operating budget, and manages the accounting, supply chain, budgeting, financial planning, and gifts and endowments teams. She has worked extensively with leadership, counseling in support of institutional priorities, managing through the federal funding crisis, and successfully developing plans to bring cost growth in line with revenue growth.

Previously, she served as vice president of finance for BMC Health System and CFO for BMC Medical Center. She has robust research finance and operations experience from her years at Mass General Brigham, including serving as director of research finance for the hospital network’s $1.3 billion research enterprise. She holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston University.

She called her new role “a unique opportunity” to help position the FAS for the future.

“I care deeply about the University, its mission, and ensuring its future success. These are challenging times for FAS and Harvard, requiring not only sound financial management, but also sound management of their people. I hope I can support the FAS leadership team in fostering both,” she said. “I’m excited to begin this new journey.”

Added Petrofsky: “Julie's expertise and commitment to the mission are exactly what we need as we align our resources to best support teaching and research. She will be a fantastic strategic thought partner, and I'm excited for her to lead the new FAS Finance organization.”

You Might Also Like
New economics building reaches its peak
A crane hoists a steel beam atop a building frame.

New economics building reaches its peak

The topping-off ceremony, a construction rite rooted in ancient Scandinavian rituals, took place August 27 at the site of the future Pritzker Hall, which will house the Department of Economics. The building project was set in motion five years ago.

How to build an evolutionary trap for viruses
M.D./Ph.D. student Vaibhav Mohanty, at left, with Eugene Shakhnovich, Roy G. Gordon Professor of Chemistry, used a chalkboard to illustrate their fitness landscape design (FLD).

How to build an evolutionary trap for viruses

Two Harvard scientists describe a way to engineer the evolutionary landscape that viruses experience, pushing them away from dangerous variants and into evolutionary dead ends.

New faces step to the front of the class
Snapshots from classrooms featuring professors Anna Russo, Tomer Schlank, and Mine Doğucu

New faces step to the front of the class

Amid the rhythms of the back-to-campus bustle, new faculty find themselves experiencing the same first-day excitement — and jitters. We dropped in on three, on the first day of their first classes.

New FAS CFO named