Sandra “Sandy” Callahan has been appointed to a five-year term on the USF Board of Trustees, beginning Jan. 6, 2020. The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) announced the appointment this week during a meeting in Gainesville.
Callahan served as chief financial officer (CFO) of TECO Energy Inc. until her retirement in Sept. 2016 following the acquisition of the company by Emera, Inc., an energy company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
As CFO and senior vice president of finance and accounting at TECO, a public company with electric and gas utility operations in Florida and New Mexico, Callahan was responsible for corporate and operational accounting, treasury, SEC reporting, investor relations, risk management, divestitures and acquisitions, capital raising, corporate taxes, audit services and benefit plan investments, and managed a team of 100 professionals. She was a member of the senior officer team that reviewed strategic alternatives and developed growth plans based on industry trends.
Prior to her CFO role, she served as TECO’s vice president of treasury and risk management and chief accounting officer. Callahan began at TECO as director of internal audit and also held the positions of assistant treasurer/director of corporate finance, treasurer, and vice president/treasurer. Prior to joining TECO, she was an audit manager at the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand.
Callahan currently serves on the boards of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo and the Tampa Club. She has served on the board of the USF Financing Corporation (chair) and USF Property Corporation, and has sat on the Executive Advisory Council for the USF Muma College of Business. She also previously served on the boards of Florida Self-Insured Guaranty Association (treasurer), Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Centre for Women (president) and Alpha House of Tampa (treasurer). In these roles, she has chaired three finance committees and two audit committees, participated in the recruitment of two CEOs, and contributed to building board governance and committee structures.
Callahan holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Baltimore. She is a licensed CPA and recipient of the FICPA Award for Highest Grade in Florida and AICPA Elijah Watt Sells Award for Performance with High Distinction on the CPA examination.
During this week’s meeting, the BOG also announced the reappointment of Michael “Mike” Griffin to a five-year term on the USF Board of Trustees. Griffin, senior managing director of Savills Occupier Services, was initially appointed to the board in June to fill the seat of Brian Lamb, who was appointed to the BOG by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trustee appointees are subject to attending a BOG orientation and the annual Trustee Summit, as well as confirmation by the Florida Senate.