Ron Secor appointed associate
dean
by Christy K. Robinson
The Board of Trustees of Loma Linda University, in action taken October
11, has approved the appointment of Ron Secor, MBA, as associate dean
for financial administration in the School of Dentistry. Mr. Secor has
been acting associate dean since January, 1999. The Search Committee recommended
him for the position, and Mr. Secor accepted his appointment on June 17,
according to Charles J. Goodacre, SD'71, MSD, dean of the School.
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| Ron Secor, MBA |
"Please join me in congratulating him!" said Dr. Goodacre.
Mr. Secor, with many years as dental clinics manager behind him, has been
with the School of Dentistry since 1983. At that time, he helped move
the School from computer ledger cards (which was a "nifty system"
back then, according to him), to the Data General computer system in use
until June of 1999.
"I spent over two years designing, implementing, and working with
the programmer to get the system in place," he says. Also, he worked
with patient finance, managed the cashiers, and generally supported the
clinic. He says that his duties involved meeting regulatory and legal
obligations, working on construction projects, interfacing finances with
management, managing people, and making sure the dental clinics ran smoothly.
There are approximately 154 clinic support personnel now, and management
has become the larger part of his duties. A wall-size organizational chart
in Mr. Secorís former office lists all the clinic divisions and people
who work there. The clinics have become larger in terms of patients, students,
and personnel.
At one time, Mr. Secor's job involved overseeing the dental clinic at
Monument Valley Adventist Hospital in Utah. He remembers riding a train
all night to Flagstaff, Arizona, renting a car and driving four and a
half hours, looking over the clinic books and talking with the personnel
there, then reversing the process to get home.
A large part of his career has been spent in overseeing remodeling and
construction projects at the School of Dentistry. "Construction is
a large part of what I do," he says. "My first project was the
remodeling of the periodontic clinic, oral surgery and central sterilization
suites, and creating the implant center out of what had been clinic administration
offices. We went over all the issues of reviewing plans, room sizes, passing
code, even cabinet design. We spent a lot of time doing hands-on work.
Before I came here, I was part owner of a cabinet shop."
Mr. Secor has played a large role in the construction of Prince Hallís
east addition, now nearly completed. The new building, housing the dental
surgery center, pediatric dentistry clinic, and extension of the student
clinic, must meet stringent requirements.
Add to that the July 1999 implementation of a new computer system for
the School of Dentistry, which has a steep learning curve for the hundreds
of students, faculty, and clinic support staff.
He says, "We certainly have challenges with construction and the
computer system, finding where or how the new computer system will render
up the numbers that we need, tracking expenses. Thereíre a lot of unknowns.
Change is difficult. Doing it on a corporate scale is a difficult process.
Weíve done it [a certain way] for the last 15 years. Itís very difficult
to get those changes through. People are challenged by the changes required.
They have to be willing to try new processes and new ways, because the
old isnít meeting our needs any longer. We needed a system that is Y2K-safe."
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| Dr. Goodacre and Ron Secor celebrated the appointment with a lunch last June. |
Mr. Secor continues, "This [new] system seems cumbersome, but itís
simply different. Once you get over the different-ness, six months to
a year from now, itíll seem easier. People like the old ways, old habits,
synaptic connections. Change causes discomfort. The end result is to have
students serviced more quickly and given more information so that they
can have the ultimate clinical experience. The new system will also make
insurance billing more efficient, and that benefits the patients."
With Mr. Secor's qualifications and experience, earning his MBA degree
in 1997 might seem redundant. He'd already worked with the ideas and processes
in the general accounting office. But he considered his education valuable,
diving deeper into issues of ethics, the economy, marketing, and legalities.
During his years at the School of Dentistry, Mr. Secor has also been an
officer of the La Loma Federal Credit Union. "I started out on the
credit committee," he says, "which analyzes credit worthiness
of applicants who have not been given credit. Then I have been assistant
chair of the board of directors for the last six years or so."
Mr. Secor is married to a teacher, Carolyn, and they have two children,
Emily, 14, and Lucas, 10. They live in a fixer-upper in Redlands. Theyíve
remodeled the kitchen, torn off "12 layers of wallpaper," carpeted,
and landscaped. Their garden produces veggies which Mr. Secor often shares
with co-workers.
His goals for his "new" position are to make the budget management
process more effective, but less onerous. He acknowledges that itís difficult
and time consuming to create the budget, create the estimate involved
and to manage it, on a monthly basis. "We'll be doing that by spending
more time with the individual cost center managers," he says, "rather
than having a traumatic once-a-year event."
All contents copyright © 2001 Loma Linda University.
All rights reserved. Revised
February 28, 2001
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