UCSD’s Canadian alien

UCSD has hired its very first “vice chancellor and chief financial officer,” according to an October 6 message from chancellor Pradeep Khosla, and the new employee is from Canada. Pierre Ouillet, formerly vice president of finance, resources and operations at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, “will oversee several areas that are being brought together under a single Vice Chancellor.”

Before he went into academia, Ouilett worked for Best Buy International as vice president of finance. That caused controversy when he arrived at British Columbia in 2009 and reportedly began hiring large numbers of former Best Buy colleagues to join him. Speaking to the student newspaper, a spokesman at the Canadian University suggested internal changes led to Ouilett’s departure there, saying in a September 16 online post, “With this new approach, it was time to move on.” Khosla’s announcement didn’t provide Ouillet’s UCSD salary.