Cornell hires Flege as new vice president, COO/CFO

Cornell College is proud to announce the hire of Kelly Flege as the new vice president, chief operating and chief financial officer. 

Flege comes to Cornell with more than 30 years of experience in financial services and higher education. Most recently she served as the 1st vice president at Lincoln Savings Bank in Waterloo, Iowa, where she led a new business unit for the past four years.

Prior to her work at the bank, she served for nearly 20 years in various roles at the University of Northern Iowa, including as the assistant vice president of finance and operations, the university treasurer, and budget director. She brings a great mixture of higher education and industry experience to this role.

“I’m super excited to be getting back into higher education and having an impact on the lives of students and our next generation,” Flege said. “While this role isn’t as student-centered as other positions at Cornell, I feel the operations and the finance role is what really creates a solid infrastructure to help students, faculty, and staff be successful.”

Flege will oversee Cornell’s Division of Business and Enterprise Services, which consists of the Offices of Business Services, Facility Services, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Marketing and Communications. 

“One of the things I’m most proud of throughout my career is the teams I’ve had the opportunity to work with,” Flege said. “I have enjoyed contributing to those teams and look forward to being a part of Cornell’s community and collaborating with each office.” 

Flege starts Jan. 6, just in time for the new semester to get underway.

“We are very fortunate to have Kelly join us,” said President Jonathan Brand. “She has exceptionally strong financial and operational skills conjoined with higher education experience. I am thrilled to have her join our executive leadership.”

A native Iowan, Flege earned a bachelor of science in accounting from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and an MBA from the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and spending time with her husband, three grown children, and two dogs. 

Flege’s hire is a result of a national search with the help of DHR International.