NACUBO’s 2019 Daniel D. Robinson Accounting Award recipient is Peggy Arrivas, associate vice president and systemwide controller for the University of California (UC). The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate leadership and a continuous commitment to the advancement of college and university accounting and reporting.
Arrivas has volunteered for NACUBO for more than eight years and was a member of the Accounting Principles Council (APC) for six years, serving as chair in 2015. She currently represents NACUBO on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), a role she has held since 2017. As a member of both GASAC and APC, she has advised the Governmental Accounting Standards Board on technical issues that affect higher education and has successfully advocated on behalf of NACUBO on topics that impact public colleges and universities.
Through tireless participation in numerous field tests of accounting standards, Arrivas has positively influenced final accounting and reporting guidance. She has also helped many business officers understand technical issues and practical solutions as a speaker and facilitator at NACUBO professional development events.
In her current position with UC, Arrivas is responsible for the development and implementation of accounting and financial policies for the university and its 10 campuses, medical centers, retirement system, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and campus foundations. She is also currently serving as the university’s interim director of capital asset strategies.
Exceedingly respected in her field, Arrivas has been asked to serve on many committees, including the UC retiree health benefits working group; the steering committee for UCPath, the University of California’s priority program to implement a single payroll, benefits, and academic personnel solution; UC’s joint ventures with the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.; and the Thirty Meter Telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
Arrivas is also a mentor for the East Bay College Fund, a nonprofit organization that works with public school students from low-income families and communities with historically low college attendance rates from the Oakland, Calif., area and provides them with college access services, scholarships, mentoring, college counseling, and life skills training.