CBO Arch Asawa’s first job in education happened to be one of many firsts. As vice president of finance at Soka University, he joined the administrative team in building the liberal arts institution from scratch. As a start-up, the challenges he faced came plenty, and fast, from building staff, vetting and hiring faculty, and crafting programs to create a best in class education experience.

“I knew nothing about higher education,” says Asawa. After attending his first association meeting, “I knew these were my people.” Asawa built a network of other professionals through his involvement in NACUBO and WACUBO to support him in building the financial organization that he oversees today.