When Steven Kinsella returned home after serving in the Gulf
War, the then U.S. Marines major and NBC auditor was unknowingly
just weeks from a career in education.
When Steven Kinsella returned home after serving in the Gulf War, the then U.S. Marines major and NBC auditor was unknowingly just weeks from a career in education.
To fulfill his military obligations, Kinsella had to take a leave from a position at the television network’s headquarters in Burbank where he was the auditing accountant for upward of 50 programs.
After several months operating a 5-million gallon fuel depot 20 miles south of the Kuwaiti border in Saudi Arabia, Kinsella returned to California to find the production files he had been auditing before his departure tied in a yellow ribbon.
“It was like nothing had changed,” says Kinsella, 45, who spent 23 years – 10 active and 13 in reserve – in the U.S. Marine Corps.
The yellow ribbon, a touching sign welcoming the soldier’s return, carried a deeper meaning for Kinsella.
Seeing the work he had left behind still waiting for him told him his line of work was not affecting people on a daily basis.
“I needed more stress than that. You have to have a certain amount to keep interested,” Kinsella says, with a smile that breaks through the Morgan Hill resident’s usual no-nonsense tone.
A mere 12 years later Kinsella has marched up the educational career ladder with as much unfettered progress as the U.S. military had across the sands of the Kuwaiti desert.
By fall 2002, Kinsella, who began his educational career as an auditor for Los Angeles Community College, was named Gavilan College president. And in December, he earned a doctorate from Golden Gate University in business administration with an emphasis in activity-based costing.
Activity-based costing is a tool managers use to make more informed business decisions. It analyzes the direct as well as the indirect costs a business takes on when it provides a particular service.
At Gavilan College, and any other entity relying on government funds, no time could be better for such expertise.
Compared to other community colleges and school districts, Gavilan College is fiscally healthy in these tight budget times. However, it is feeling the effects of the state’s roughly $35 billion shortfall which requires the college to slice $800,000 from this year’s budget.
Complicating matters is the 2002-03 budget called for $920,000 in deficit spending, something the college can no longer afford to do.
Kinsella says he spends most of his time dealing with budget implications and it has made his transition “go a little slower” than he would like.
“We have to get expenses in line with revenue,” Kinsella said. “To me, this is a matter of just getting the job done. Let’s make the cuts we need to make. Let’s provide better quality with less quantity and then move on from there.”
Gavilan trustees were clear about their motives when they hired Kinsella late last year. They were bringing him on to see the college through the rough financial times ahead.
“I knew exactly what I was hiring,” says Board President Laura Perry. “I’m pleased with the transition, especially considering the hard (financial) times we’re all going through.”
Perry knew what type of person she was hiring because Kinsella served as dean of business services at Gavilan four years ago, before moving on to a vice president post at Monterey Peninsula College and later as vice chancellor for the West Valley-Mission Community College District.
Although business is his expertise, Kinsella has no plans to turn his back on academics.
What gets lost in the financial mire is that Kinsella is a longtime educator, having taught at the college level for years. Currently, Kinsella teaches government accounting for Golden Gate University.
“I’m looking to improve the quality of instruction and the quality of students (at Gavilan). It’s happening now, but we need to get much more specific. We need to define quality,” Kinsella says.
Kinsella says that will happen with the help of faculty, staff and students after the initial round of budget cuts are made.
Kinsella also wants to launch a study to determine how the school will meet the needs of a growing regional population in years to come.
“We have existing buildings that are 35 years old and have inefficient heating and air conditioning,” Kinsella says. ” We also need to look at expanding our campus. Maybe the Gilroy campus needs to grow. Maybe we need to buy land in Morgan Hill or elsewhere to meet the needs. All options are on the table now.”
Kinsella has been married to his wife, Linda, for 23 years, and they have three children, Jessica, 21, who is studying law; Mark, 20, who is deciding between real estate and banking; and Felisha, 17, a water polo enthusiast.
Born in Castro Valley and raised in Connecticut, Kinsella came to California when he served in the U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.
Kinsella’s military background seems to follow him. When one meets the mildly quiet yet obviously confident redhead, its easy to imagine he wore a uniformed in the past. But the discipline he learned in the military goes beyond appearance, it’s there in his daily practices, too.
Kinsella is an avid runner, jogging between 50 miles and 65 miles a week and competing regularly in marathons. A marathon he ran in October qualified him for the world-famous Boston Marathon in April.
“The cutoff time was three hours and 20 minutes. I ran it in three hours and 19 minutes,” Kinsella said.
Kinsella plans to compete in Boston, but it’s the Gavilan College long haul he has his eyes set on most.
“I think I’ll be at Gavilan for the long term,” he says. “I’ve been at three other community colleges, but this is a school that can be connected with a local community. That’s how I want to spend the rest of my career.”
