By Kirsten Nguyen, The Whetstone

Belinda Burke didn’t always want to work in business doing finance and accounting.

“When I was growing up I thought I was going into medicine to be a doctor,” she said.

Burke is now the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Administration. She was offered the position when previous CFO Christine Gibson resigned to relocate to another job out of state.

“I wear many hats,” Burke said.

Burke started at Wesley in May 2016 as a contractor working for Ellucian as the Director of finance and reporting.

“I was responsible for developing various financial statements, reports, and analyses,” she said. “I worked with the previous CFO, cabinet members, and the president.”

She is responsible for the oversight of all aspects of financial reporting, budgeting, financial analysis, accounting, business office functions and administrative processes.

She has worked in financial institutions, including credit unions, ranging from small to very large, as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“I’m from Virginia,” she said. “I grew up in Sperryville, a small town in Rappahannock County near the Skyline Drive. I lived many years in Northern Virginia outside of DC before moving to Delaware.”

Burke graduated from Virginia Tech where she studied finance and accounting instead of medicine.

“In my senior year of high school, I decided not to go into medicine because I knew it would be hard to not have an emotional connection with the patients,” she said.

Burke moved to Delaware because it was a slower pace than living right outside of D.C. She came to Wesley when a position opened and thought it would be a good opportunity to work in a different field such as higher education.

“I wanted to be in a different area of the same work,” she said.

Burke said she enjoys working at Wesley because she likes the people she works with and the interaction she has with the students and seeing their eagerness to learn. However, her position does face obstacles.

“I try not to look at things as a downfall or negative but rather look at it like opportunities for improvement,” she said. “Financial constraints along with tight budgets remain an opportunity for improvement.”

Burke has set goals for her new position, including a steady student population and maintenance.

“I want to create a master facilities plan to address both short and long term deferred maintenance needs and needed campus wide renovations,” she said.