Evangel University chief Carol Taylor is staring down a substantial debt load with an eyes-forward, optimistic approach.
While declining to put a dollar figure on the university's current debt load, Taylor said Evangel has moved below a previously reported $30 million as management puts into play cost-cutting measures and revenue-boosting ideas. As one of her first acts, Taylor - who officially took over as president and CEO of Evangel in May after a year as president-elect -
enacted a 5.8 percent decrease in the school's workforce last winter, as well as reductions in other operational expenses that led to budget savings of over $1 million.
Speaking this morning as Springfield Business Journal's featured guest for its 12 People You Need to Know editorial series, Taylor pointed to debt-related progress already made by the university during her tenure. When she arrived at the university in mid-2013, Taylor said the school drew $5 million on a line of credit, had a $2.4 million grant to support the school's consolidation with Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and Central Bible College and added another $1.4 million to its long-term debt.
"Evangel, like many institutions that are tuition-drilven, often draws on lines of credit over the summer until the fall students arrive," Taylor said. "This summer, we still drew on a line of credit, but it was $3 million. Last year, to get through the summer, we needed over $8 million.
"That's really significant progress in one year. The goal is to not need a line of credit at all. Give us another two to three years, and we'll be there."
On the other side of the coin, Taylor said academic programs such as Evangel's new five-year master of divinity degree - supported by a $550,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation in Waukesha, Wis. - are a move in the right direction to boost dollars coming into the school. It's a coup for the school, Taylor said, because the master's degree is typically a seven-year commitment.
"To create a program that allows a student to come in as an undergraduate student and say in five years, not seven, you can have an M.Div. is huge," she said. "It allows them to complete their program of study in a shorter timeline, which means they save money, they can go into service faster. We're in the process of developing that program now."
Taylor also named new master's level programs, such as education, underway this academic year.
"It's not just about what can you cut and how you can be more efficient, but it's also about where do you find new revenue as well," Taylor said.
From California to MissouriThe turnaround specialist is leaning on her experience at her previous post at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif., where she helped lead efforts as president to get the school operating in the black and pushing down its original debt load of $32 million, as well as saving it from losing accreditation.
While acknowledging similarities at Evangel - namely the debt load - Taylor said the situation in Springfield is much different because the school is not facing a probationary scandal.
"I think the key difference between leading a turnaround for an institution in crisis and helping an institution move forward with an exciting vision is just that, it's moving forward in strength versus, 'Can we survive?'" Taylor said.
Still, the situation in California taught Taylor the value of a consolidated team effort, which she brings to Springfield as Evangel progresses as a consolidated entity.
"There's this great African proverb that says, when you pray, move your feet. We did both," Taylor said of her experience at Vanguard. "You have to have more than two feet that move or you don't go. For any organization, you only move when other people are willing to move with you and work with you to achieve the goals that you're pursuing."[[In-content Ad]]
