The Office of Financial Affairs created a financial innovators award known as the Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award (FASI) to recognize those throughout the university who make significant and lasting contributions to the university through bold, innovative and creative approaches to common, everyday university problems.

The award is open to any university faculty, non-faculty, academic, administrative or skilled crafts/service/maintenance employees who bring forward fresh ideas that lead to process efficiencies, cost savings and/or increased productivity. Each quarter, one employee will be selected to receive the award, and then at the end of the calendar year, an annual award winner will be selected from the four quarterly winners.

We are pleased to announce the Q1 2024 award winner as:

Hal Prescott, director of finance at Arkansas Alumni Association

Prescott has been with the Arkansas Alumni Association since 2017 serving in the role of the director of finance. As lead of the Alumni Association's finance team, he has oversight of alumni business operations and revenue management and stewards the alumni scholarship program. During his tenure, Prescott has demonstrated tremendous leadership in helping the organization create sustainable processes, policies and procedures that help ensure good stewardship and compliance.

Despite it being a separate organization, Arkansas Alumni Association employees have dual employment and responsibilities with the U of A. Prescott is mindful of that intersection and is diligent in ensuring compliance with university policies. Further, he maintains great working relationships with many on campus, including Financial Affairs, to best serve the university's alumni and future alumni.

Under his leadership, the AAA finance team have improved workflows, raised awareness of internal controls and enhanced service to their members through innovative solutions, particularly in the payment space. During the university's most recent bid process for banking services, Prescott served as a key member of the request for proposal (RFP) committee, where his prior experience and insights added tremendous value to the decision-making process.

Brandy Cox, executive director and associate vice chancellor of the Alumni Association, said, "Hal Prescott's work ethic and sense of purpose combine to make him exemplary for this award. He believes in the mission of the Arkansas Alumni Association and our collaboration with the university. He embraces opportunities to help others. We are so appreciative of his work and are excited for others to learn more about his campus-wide support."

Prescott is a certified public accountant, holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Central Arkansas and earned his Master of Business Administration, Executive from the University of Memphis. Prescott is deserving of the Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award for his strong leadership, stewardship mindset and his contributions not only to AAA but to the campus at large. Please join us in congratulating Hal Prescott!

If you know of an employee deserving of recognition for our next FASI award, we would love to hear about them. Please email your FASI nominations to Ann Gearity at agearity@uark.edu.