Randy Livingston, vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer at Stanford, will retire after more than 23 years at the university.

“It’s been really wonderful,” he said. “Stanford has turned out to be the idyllic place to work that I imagined when I was an undergraduate student – the constant intellectual stimulation, the bucolic campus, the amazingly talented people – the whole environment.”

In his time working at Stanford, Livingston helped the university navigate challenges such as the global financial crisis of the late 2000s and the COVID pandemic, created talent development programs that extended university-wide, improved administrative systems and processes, implemented risk management practices, and more.

“We are incredibly grateful to Randy for his many contributions to Stanford over more than two decades,” said President Jonathan Levin. “Randy’s work has benefited generations of students, faculty, and staff. He has always operated with the long-term interests of the institution in mind and Stanford is stronger because of his efforts and leadership."

Levin will appoint a search committee this fall to conduct a search for Livingston’s successor, and Livingston will continue in his role until that person is on board.

Randy Livingston speaks to the Faculty Senate in 2001. | L.A. Cicero

A serendipitous return

Livingston joined Stanford in March 2001 following a chance encounter at a movie theater with a former colleague who encouraged him to apply to the open position as the university’s chief financial officer. Having earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and his MBA from Stanford, Livingston had fond memories of the university and thought it would be a great place to work.

John Hennessy was president of the university at the time and supported Livingston as he grew into the role of CFO.

“It was a great match from the beginning,” Hennessy said. “As a two-time alum from Stanford, Randy really harmonized with the university’s vision, and he cares passionately about Stanford. Randy played an incredibly valuable role in ensuring that our business side of operations was carried out in a way that supported the university’s core teaching and research mission, and enabled our continued success.”

As CFO, Livingston was involved in setting many of the university’s financial strategies and policies such as endowment payout, debt issuance, and cash management.

Livingston served on the university’s Budget Group and saw the annual university budget grow from around $2 billion to more than $9 billion during his time at Stanford. He was also appointed university liaison for Stanford Medicine and served on the boards of Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Management Company.

As vice president for business affairs, Livingston oversees about 1,100 staff within the administrative organizations that provide support for Stanford’s academic mission, including University IT, Financial Management Services, the Office of Research Administration, the Office of the Chief Risk Officer, and Improvement, Analytics, and Innovation Services.

Randy Livingston addresses the Faculty Senate in 2014. | Ian Terpin

Navigating challenges

Over the course of his tenure, Livingston says, he came to understand and appreciate the incredible diversity of Stanford’s operations, which include not only its education and research missions but also its exponentially growing clinical enterprise, hospitality, athletics, real estate development, investment management, technology and trademark licensing, and more.

“There's all these examples of businesses within the university that you might not think about, but as the chief financial officer, every one of them has its challenges and its own business model that I’ve had to learn,” Livingston said. “That’s part of what’s kept the job so interesting.”

Those challenges included the global financial crisis of 2008-09, which dramatically impacted the university’s endowment and budget. “It was a scary time and forced every budget unit to go through a major cost-cutting exercise,” Livingston said. “Helping the university navigate through those budget changes was very challenging, but I think we emerged a much stronger university coming out of it.”

One of the largest parts of his organization is University IT. Livingston learned over the years to appreciate how difficult implementing new systems and administrative processes can be, leading him to invest heavily in “campus readiness” and training for new practices.

“Implementing change at Stanford requires tremendous patience, persistence, and tenacity, and I feel like we have been able to accomplish a lot during my time here,” Livingston said.

Livingston also implemented enterprise risk management practices for the university, which have matured tremendously to encompass more than two dozen different enterprise risks, such as natural disasters, information security and privacy breaches, and the clinical enterprise.

Chief Information Officer Steve Gallagher said it has been a great privilege for him to report to Livingston. “His leadership, keen intellect, and absolute devotion to Stanford’s mission are truly inspiring,” Gallagher said. “Perhaps most notable is his care for those who work for and with him. Randy’s record of accomplishments is proof that nurturing a healthy and accountable culture is how we get Stanford’s work done.”

Building bridges

Livingston strove to build a strong culture of collaboration, mentorship, and development in his department, and he celebrated each time a member of his staff moved into a leadership role outside of Business Affairs. “That’s part of our mission as a central unit to be training and developing people to be recruited by an academic unit,” he explained. “It helps build bridges between academic units and the central organization, and ensure that staff in the academic units understand Stanford’s policies, systems and processes."

In the 2000s, Livingston worked with university human resources to create the Stanford Leadership Academy, which supports rising leaders among faculty and staff. Within Business Affairs, he also developed the Leadership@Stanford program for senior-level managers, and the program was so successful that it was expanded university-wide.

One of the most profound changes over Livingston’s time at the university has been the booming growth of the clinical enterprise and Stanford Medicine, which is reflected in significant percentage increases in both clinical revenues within the university budget and in sponsored research, Livingston said.

As university liaison for Stanford Medicine, Livingston facilitated collaboration and monitored risk of the clinical enterprise on behalf of the president and board of trustees, and said he believes the university will soon be better known for its innovation in medicine than for its historic distinction in the realm of technology.

Livingston looks forward to having more flexibility in his personal life and spending time with family and traveling.

“I really believe nobody should stay in their role forever. Change is great,” Livingston said. “With President Jon Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez coming in as our new leadership team, they will bring fresh energy and perspective, and it’s helpful for them to also have fresh energy and perspectives from other members of the leadership team.”