![\"SPRING16eagle-impact\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/SPRING16eagle-impact.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Teresa MacCartney has a particular aversion to red.<\/p>\n
Aside from the fact that she\u2019s a \u201cDouble Eagle\u201d alumna of Georgia Southern and True Blue to the core, she\u2019s also the chief financial officer (CFO) and director of the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) for the State of Georgia, which means it\u2019s her job to keep Georgia out of \u201cthe red.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her role as CFO, MacCartney oversees the state budget, which exceeds $22 billion, and requires the input and intense scrutiny from analysts and lawmakers before it can be adopted in the Legislature. It\u2019s an arduous process, but it\u2019s one that she learned to love while working as an intern and later a graduate assistant with the Office of the Provost under Virginia Samiratedu, assistant provost and academic fiscal affairs officer at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely the influence of working on campus…especially when I shifted to my graduate program and started working with Virginia Samiratedu,\u201d said MacCartney. \u201cI enjoyed working on individual budgets within the colleges \u2014 especially during year-end when you get to move that funding between initiatives. I think that\u2019s what got me started down the path of really enjoying the budget side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process of seeing a budget through to its adoption is much more complex in her current role, but no less rewarding. To start the process, MacCartney first works with the Governor to outline his priorities, then consults with lawmakers as the bill goes through the General Assembly, the House and the Senate. At each step, she tries to ensure that the Governor\u2019s priorities remain in the budget while listening to feedback and keeping track of changes made by the Legislature.
\nIt\u2019s a process that demands flexibility and stamina, but MacCartney understands it is about more than just numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSitting in this office, you get a better understanding of the big picture and how everything fits together,\u201d she said. \u201cYou also get an understanding of the fact that you make decisions at the end of the day, and those decisions truly have an impact on the citizens in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Governor\u2019s Office, MacCartney is one of several Georgia Southern alumni making a difference in the state. She works regularly with Chris Riley, the Governor\u2019s Chief of Staff; Katie Childers, the Governor\u2019s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; Lonice Barrett, the Governor\u2019s Special Counsel, and several staffers in the office who know what it means to be True Blue…and how to rub it in when necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Georgia Southern beat Florida, I had an education director who graduated from the University of Florida, so you can imagine the decorations I put up in his office,\u201d she said. \u2014 Doy Cave<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alumna Keeps Georgia Out of Red<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-spring-2016"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}