Recently named Viterbo’s vice president for finance and administration, Amy Schmidt ’11 was already feeling right at home when she moved into her Murphy Center office on May 16.

Viterbo’s new chief financial officer spent plenty of time on campus when she earned her Master of Business Administration degree here, of course. But beyond that there’s something else that makes Viterbo feel like home: her husband.

Eric Schmidt ’08, ’17, has worked at Viterbo for almost 25 years, for many years as an admissions counselor before taking on his current duties as director of major and planned gifts. In addition, their oldest son, Sam, is transferring to Viterbo after a year at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Schmidt said she never would have expected to come back to Viterbo as a vice president when she was a student here, but then her path in life has had other unexpected turns.

A native of Stewartville, Minn., Schmidt enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse planning to major in psychology. Then she took a course in accounting.

"My mother had been telling me for years I should be an accountant, so of course I wasn't going to do that,” Schmidt said with a laugh. “When I took that class in accounting at UW-L, it turned out she was right."

After graduating from UW-L with an accounting degree, Schmidt worked for four years at an accounting firm before starting on a path that had her crunching numbers in the education realm. She worked for the Caledonia, Minn., school district before taking a job in 2004 as business services manager at Western Technical College.

The people at Western saw potential in Schmidt and urged her to get an MBA. She considered going back to UW-L, but her husband steered her toward Viterbo’s program.

"I really loved it. It was a cohort system, meeting every Tuesday. It was a really nice way to get to know people," Schmidt said, noting that she stays in touch with many of those she studied with. "I thought it was a really good experience. You learned a lot about leadership. I really liked the ethical component of the Viterbo program and the emphasis on leadership skills. And I really loved Tom Thibodeau and Rick Kyte. They were just so wonderful.”

After she earned her MBA, Schmidt was promoted to controller at Western, a job she held until 2020, when she become vice president for finance and administration at Minnesota State College Southeast in Winona, Minn.

She got some great experience and learned some important lessons taking on the vice presidential role at MSCS, where she played a major role in creating a vision for facilities. “The biggest thing is the communication you have to do as a vice president, as well as the big picture thinking and being able to explain a budget in a way that makes sense to everybody,” Schmidt said. “I feel like I’m leaving them in a good spot. Enrollment is creeping up and they have some good momentum.”

In addition to bringing her MSCS experience to bear at Viterbo, lessons she learned while earning her MBA will shape how she approaches her new role. “There’s a lot in the MBA program that was about learning other people’s personalities, knowing your staff and their strengths,” Schmidt explained. “You also learn a lot about your own style, what you’re good at, and what your weaknesses are. I know I like to move forward and get things done, but I might have a tendency to forget to bring people along.”

Viterbo was blessed with extraordinary stability in the finance department for many years. Vice President for Finance Todd Ericson retired in December 2021 after about 28 years at Viterbo. Ericson left Viterbo in excellent financial health, but Schmidt has no plans to coast.

“There's a lot of excitement about doing some updating, like going paperless,” Schmidt said. “The challenge will be moving processes forward. Change can be painful sometimes.”