The University welcomes a new chief financial officer 

A season of change is upon the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as the new school year brought about big changes to the leadership and administration. 

The University saw Dr. Joseph Savoie step down as president and transition to president emeritus. Dr. Jaimie Hebert, previously the provost and vice president for academic affairs, was appointed interim president for the Fall 2025 semester during the ongoing search for a permanent successor. 

Along with the transition, the University welcomed Dr. Edwin Litolff as the vice president for administration and finance and chief financial officer, the role previously held by Jerry Luke LeBlanc. 

LeBlanc retired from the position in May 2025, having held the role for over 17 years, beginning in January 2008. 

During LeBlanc’s tenure, he led the University’s financial operations over significant periods of growth and challenges. 

Effective from Aug. 11, 2025, Litolff assumed his new position, one which he is anything but unfamiliar with. 

Litolff ’s extensive career includes various roles held at Southeastern Louisiana University, Baton Rouge Community College, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Grambling State University, University of New Orleans and the University of Louisiana System. He was interim president at UL Monroe and chief financial officer at Grambling State. His most recent role was as chief financial officer at the University of New Orleans, where he worked on budget realignment and strengthening of the school’s financial stability and growth. 

Litolff expressed that the transition to his role at UL Lafayette was eased owing to his prior knowledge and connections built from his experience of 15 years within the University of Louisiana System, during which time he got to work with all nine schools under the UL System as the vice president of finance. 

“I’ve been working with UL Lafayette since 2005 […], when I came, it wasn’t new, because I knew so many people that are already here. I had interacted with a lot of people, a lot of people knew me,” Litolff said. 

When describing his transition to the University, he also said, “I really had a good idea of, you know, the different things on campus. And so my first two weeks, I really just kind of went around campus, met people, talked to people, you know, trying to figure out what the lay of the land is for UL.” 

As the 2025-26 fiscal year began, during his first State of the University address, Hebert announced a 5% cut on auxiliary and operational spending due to the ongoing budget deficit. 

This has sparked concerns throughout departments campus-wide since the spending cut has led to lowered resources and funds. 

In managing the spending cuts, Litolff commented that he will be working closely together with the University’s vice presidents and deans. 

Discussing his goals as the new chief financial officer, Litolff shared, “I think one of the most important things for me is getting to where we have a balanced budget and we can begin to build some reserves, so that we can make improvements to campus.”He emphasized the importance of having reserves with regard to renovations of older buildings on campus, which could contribute to generating revenue. 

“So that’s my hope, is that we create a balanced budget, and then we are able to start building some reserves and making some improvements on campus that allows UL to grow and to provide better services, more services to students,” he added. 

Other implementations that Litolff has been working on include minimizing travel costs, as well as the University’s Foundation Funds being a way for departments to acquire funding. 

Commenting on the University’s current financial situation, Litolff said, “I think the key is going to be for everybody at the University to come together and work together to find solutions, right? It’s not me, it’s not the president, it’s not the vice presidents, but it’s everybody working together to help where they can.” 

“And I think there’s so many places that we can do, and things that we can do to help out, and my hope is that we can do enough of these things that we can take care of the deficit without having a huge impact,” he continued. 

In Hebert’s State of the University address, he has assured that the budget deficit is not yet a fiscal crisis for UL Lafayette. Litolff, together with the University’s administration and leaders, will be making cost-cutting measures that are necessary to balance out the school’s budget such that it minimizes impact on students and their learning, while still doing what needs to be done to ensure the school’s financial stability.