Vice President Karla Mongeon-Stewart departing UND
Mongeon-Stewart, who first joined UND in 2015, has served as VP for Finance & Operations/Chief Operating Officer since 2022
Karla Mongeon-Stewart, UND vice president for Finance & Operations/chief operating officer, announced that she will be leaving the University in July to take on the role of deputy commissioner and chief financial and administrative officer with the North Dakota University System office, based in Bismarck.
Mongeon-Stewart’s last day at UND is slated to be July 3. A national search for her replacement is expected to be conducted, and an interim will be named in the coming weeks.
“Karla has been an incredibly valuable member of our UND community since her arrival on campus in 2015 and as a respected colleague on my executive team since she agreed to be our vice president for finance & operations/chief operating officer a few years later,” said UND President Andrew Armacost. “Her foresight and counsel on finance and operations matters combined with her decades of state-wide experience working in higher education and with the North Dakota Legislature have been a huge asset to UND and to me personally as president. I will miss Karla’s humor and kindness here on campus, but I also look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role with the NDUS.”
Mongeon-Stewart was selected as UND’s VPFO/COO in July 2022, succeeding former Vice President Jed Shivers.
As vice president, Mongeon-Stewart provides leadership for the University’s financial and operational divisions, including human resources, public safety, facilities, parking and transportation, policy, civil rights and Title IX, records management and the Chester Fritz Performing Arts Center.
“The past 11 years at UND have been some of the most rewarding of my career,” Mongeon-Stewart said. “I am so grateful for my colleagues and friends that have made my experience at UND so impactful. I am also extraordinarily proud of my finance and operations teams and all they have done to make UND what it is today. I’m excited to bring my knowledge and experience to the entire North Dakota University System.”
Transformative tenure
Mongeon-Stewart’s time at UND coincided with a surge in new construction, renewal and transformation across campus. Under her watch, Mongeon-Stewart continued a UND practice to seek innovative ways to fund new construction and decrease deferred maintenance costs through public-private partnerships.
Mongeon-Stewart also led the University through the 2023 and 2025 state legislative sessions, which were successful for UND in terms of securing state support for salary increases, research funding and multiple high impact UND projects. The latter include UND’s STEM Complex, a new Flight Operations Center at Grand Forks International Airport, and several space and national security initiatives on campus.
The 2025 session also saw a nearly $5 million increase (to $25 million) in state appropriated matching money for the Challenge Grant, used by UND and North Dakota State University to leverage philanthropic contributions for higher education.
Mongeon-Stewart also oversaw the renaming and renovation of UND’s Chester Fritz Performing Arts Center (formerly the Chester Fritz Auditorium), and a total revamp of UND’s parking system and associated funding structure.
More about Mongeon-Stewart
Mongeon-Stewart joined UND in 2015 served as associate vice president for finance, overseeing about 60 professionals who administer the University’s finance and budgeting systems.
A native of Fargo, Mongeon-Stewart graduated from NDSU with a degree in accounting in 1996. She became a Certified Public Accountant in 1998 by passing all sections of the exam in her first sitting and received commendation for earning the highest overall score on the exam in the state. She completed her Master of Business Administration from the University of Mary in Bismarck in 2003.
A certified public accountant since 1998, Mongeon-Stewart has worked in an array of financial analyst positions throughout her career. She entered the realm of higher education finance in 2003, spending four years as the director of finance and controller at Bismarck State College. From there, she became budget director at NDSU, focusing on change management and process improvement. Next, she served as assistant vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas at Brownsville and then chief financial officer at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.
Mongeon-Stewart currently lives in Grand Forks with her husband, Justin, and their three children, Bailey, Berlyn and Ryder.
“I am truly grateful for my time at UND,” Mongeon-Stewart said. “It’s a place that has allowed me to use my talents and abilities in a supportive environment for the betterment of UND. I am so proud of the work we have accomplished during my tenure, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with UND in my new role at the system office.”
