Pinheiro makes cents of it all

By Sara Marett
Gazette Staff

For Lucy Pinheiro, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

As VP-finance for the University Students' Council this year, the biggest surprise for Pinheiro about managing the USC's $14-million books was the love-hate relationship she had with the job.

"I absolutely loved the job, but I gave up so much of myself – it became my whole life," Pinheiro said, in between interrupting phone calls.

Pinheiro put a strong emphasis this year on getting her nose out of the books and keeping an open door for students. "It was really important for me to talk to people, to hear their concerns," she said. Even though the hustle and bustle of the office made it harder to get day-to-day work done, Pinheiro said it was worth it.

Bringing a personal touch to the corporate side of the USC was something Pinheiro believes she was successful at. "This portfolio should be much more student focused and I tried to do that in promoting things like student fees and the budget."

When asked about balancing this year's books for the USC, Pinheiro's pride is mixed with a sense of relief. Getting the USC back in the black was one of the most rewarding projects of the year for her, but not a simple task, she said, adding it was very time consuming to sit down with all the managers and prepare budgets for all the operations and portfolios.

"It's great, though, to start putting money back into the corporation after losing a lot in the past, it's a great turnaround and I'm glad I was part of it."

Pinheiro said the thing she struggled with the most this year was the expectation to produce a long-term plan. "Everyone in the past thought it was so important to have one and I just didn't see the need for it," she said.

She explained because there is such high turnover in the company, it is not applicable to have a fixed long-term plan. Instead, Pinheiro and the rest of this year's board plans to sit down with the incoming board and have a 'vision planning meeting' to discuss what was accomplished this year and what the goals of next year's board should be.

Down the road, Pinheiro would like to combine her newly acquired public relations skills with the world of finance at an international firm.