Meet the Clean-Up Squad, Part One

UVAFinance is pitching in to help schools and units in the necessary cleanup of financial transactions before the end of the fiscal year by creating the Clean-Up Squad. We've onboarded a talented team of temps who will, for the next months, take up the task of spring-cleaning thousands of financial transactions for you! You can read more about this effort here.

We thought you’d like to get to know the team who is tidying up your financial transactions. Plus, the Clean-Up Squad members are seeking permanent positions at UVA after the Great Clean-Up project has ended. Today we’re introducing you to four of these fabulous individuals; watch for three more in a future blog digest.

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James Stoltz (Jim)

The Stoltz family

Tell us about your background: 

I earned my degree in Secondary Education and Broadfield Social Science but quickly delved into management and finance, at this point, I’ve been in the mortgage banking industry for over 25 years.

What interested you in this position?

The mortgage industry is a roller coaster – very dependent on rates and market fluctuations. I’m interested in a career change that would afford more stability, and of course UVA is a big draw. Some of my neighbors work at UVA and recommended applying to various roles. With my background in finance, this position especially seemed interesting.

What’s been interesting about the work so far?

Working in UVA Finance has been a big change compared to the mortgage industry. The work follows a process to complete a specific task. Everyone has been super helpful and collaborative. Our peers and coworkers have been willing to help educate us on what needs to happen within our specific roles.

What would you like to do more of in the future?

I’ve been in finance for the past 25 years managing, analyzing, recruiting, and completing credit approvals. I would love to be in a role where any combination of these skills is utilized. I like conflict resolution and solving problems and have coached various sports for over 25 years learning to identify and cultivate talent in both the work and athletic environments.

What do you get up to when you’re not working:

It’s a busy time for us as a family, and it’s only going to get busier! My wife Jennifer works for a local media corporation that produces a magazine covering wedding venues and wineries. My daughter Madison is at JMU working on a degree in Communications (she’s also getting married late this summer), and my son Caleb is at UVA studying Computer Science; he’s also on the football team. My youngest son Samuel is still in high school he also competes in football and wrestling. All three of our kids will graduate in 2024.
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Dallas Pitt

Tell us about your background:

I’m a UVA grad; I double-majored in math and history, then went back to school later in life and passed my CPA exams. For over ten years, I’ve been tutoring accounting at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Since 2015, I’ve done project management on and off for iSoftStone and its American subsidiary, AI Data Innovations doing different projects such as data collections for augmented reality and testing naturalness of speech for virtual assistants. Before that, I did a lot of construction contracting jobs specializing in computer network cabling.

Dallas is also an avid kayaker

What interested you in this position?

My work with AI Data Innovations was a detour after I passed my CPA exams; it was interesting and well-paid, but it was contract work and now I find myself wanting a “real job.” I’m looking for full-time accounting or finance positions that make use of my education and background.

What’s been interesting so far?

The work itself is fairly simple, but it’s been interesting learning the systems – Workday and University Business Intelligence and learning more about how things work at UVA.

What would you like to do more of in the future:

I’m planning on looking for something along the lines of accounting, but I can see finance or something like that, too, especially if it’s mathematically complicated. My dad is a professor emeritus of the UVA math department, and I’m a former faculty brat.

What do you get up to when you’re not working:

Poker, board games, kayaking, and projects around the house. I worked as a contractor for decades, so I do my own home repairs. I’m currently working on a shed out back, and doing a path, patio, and some shelves. Carpentry has been the only time I used that trigonometry I learned in high school.­­­­­­­­­­­______________________________________________________________________

Nika Vest

Tell us about your background:

I’ve worked in property management and real estate for the past ten years. In my most recent position with the Piedmont Housing Alliance, I started out as a leasing consultant and worked my way up to Operations. Then I started helping the accounting team and found I had a love for numbers. I’ve held an accounting role with the team until about January of this year when I decided I’d like to try a new field. From there I did volunteer work with a sexual assault research agency, helping them with their HR duties, managing their benefits, and seeking grant funding for the organization.

What interested you in this position?

Nika & her fiance 

With property management, there’s not a lot of flexibility to learn within the field of accounting, so I decided to broaden my search. I’d heard great things about UVA, but this position interested me because it was a cleanup position. I started off with that at the Housing Alliance – doing the hard stuff first! I like the result of clean-up work when it’s all done, and things go from completely out of whack to organized and straightforward.

What’s been interesting so far?

I love it. A lot of the work I was doing before was remote, but here, I get to interact a lot more and I like that. The work itself is satisfying; it’s nice to work through the spreadsheet and see our progress.

What would you like to do more of in the future?

This project has shown me more of what central finance does, and how finance operates at UVA. I’ve gotten to see the bigger picture, and it’s been an eye-opener. I’d like to keep learning more about that!

What do you get up to when you’re not working?

I’m engaged to be married, have nephews who are like sons to me, and have a dog and a cat. I’m a big gardener and have grown just about everything you can think of: strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini. This year I’m even trying plum trees!

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Jarod Verkleeren

Tell us about your background:

I got my bachelor’s degree in health care administration and management from Penn State and then came to UVA to get my master’s in educational psychology. I was a student-athlete at both institutions, wrestling competitively for four years. I think the combination of my degrees offers me a few different routes to take professionally; I’ve considered working in the hospital system as a good combination of the two.

What interested you in this position?

This project seemed like a great way to get experience. I specified finance as one of my interests and when this job came up, I was definitely interested. The transition has been smooth, and even though it’s temporary, I’ve been learning a lot and the team has been helping us grow professionally and find permanent jobs, too.

Jarod as a new UVA grad!

What’s been interesting about the work so far? 

You could say this is my first “real job” working in an office. It’s been interesting seeing the other side of UVA, and how many people work behind the scenes to keep things running that students don’t even think about.

What would you like to do more of in the future? 

I’m still flexible with what I want to do, but I’m applying to things that interest me right now. I’ve got a quick learning curve and my options are open.

What do you get up to when you’re not working?

For the first time in a long time, I’m not a student, and it’s nice not having to study. My wife Madeline is considering getting her master's, but she’s still indecisive after seeing me work on papers constantly. We have a French bulldog who’s still mad at me for being at work all day after being used to having access to me during the day. I’m enjoying getting into jujitsu with some friends, and I plan on getting into coaching wrestling in the future.