Donna Alexander retires after 30 years of service to AgriLife Extension

Donna Alexander, assistant agency director and chief financial officer, will retire from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service effective Jan. 31, after more than 30 years of outstanding service.

Alexander oversaw all financial operations of the agency related to budget, annual financial reporting and fiscal management. She earned her bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University and has spent her career contributing to the agency’s growth and impact.

Joining AgriLife Extension in 1994, she quickly rose from a staff assistant in the Contracts and Budgets Office to become the assistant agency director and chief financial officer in 2007. Before joining AgriLife Extension, she also worked for Texas A&M and Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

“Over the years, Donna spearheaded the modernization of many financial processes, guiding the transition from paper-based workflows to digital systems and playing a key role in implementing platforms that greatly improved efficiency and communication across the organization and left a lasting positive impact on how resources are managed,” said Vic Seidel, Texas A&M AgriLife executive associate vice chancellor, chief operating officer.

Dedication and service that’s made a difference

Alexander is equally admired for her service-minded leadership. She consistently sought solutions to improve AgriLife Extension.

“Donna has been a steady and trusted leader whose influence reaches well beyond the financial systems she helped strengthen,” said Rick Avery, AgriLife Extension director. “Her thoughtful approach, integrity and commitment to excellence and responsiveness have helped support our mission and the communities we serve. We are deeply grateful for her decades of service.”

Reflecting on her career, Alexander said the most notable change has been the rapid advancement of technology.

“I can remember when I started in the Jack Williams building as staff assistant in the Contracts and Budgets Office, and the computer I had took up half the desk space,” Alexander said. “Email was something to look forward to, and virtual meetings were not even a concept. Today it’s all changed; we cannot function without our laptop, email is constant, and we’ve proven virtual meetings can work.”

Alexander was key in helping AgriLife Extension adopt and adapt to new financial technology as a part of a team that transitioned bookkeeping for the agency’s departments, units and centers.

“In the late 1990s, a team of three of us traveled the state to our Extension centers, implementing what was at the time the newest ‘bookkeeping system,’” she said. “It was extremely rewarding to see the beginning of the shift from paper to electronic processes.”

She said during that implementation, the team experienced a Vernon tornado, a Lubbock dust storm, and a Stephenville winter storm with freezing rain and ice.

Alexander was back on the trail for a second implementation of bookkeeping changes about six years later when she coordinated a team of 10 people who would move both Texas A&M AgriLife Research and AgriLife Extension to FAMIS, the newest financial accounting system, for processing disbursements and purchasing documents. She said it took about six months to provide training to all on- and off-campus units.

Seidel said Alexander’s career was marked by continual growth and impact, and her leadership and financial stewardship have been integral to the agency’s mission success.