Clinger to be chief financial officer for state higher ed system

Andrew Clinger, senior advisor to Gov. Brian Sandoval, has been hired as the new chief financial officer for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Clinger, 48, brings extensive experience with the public budgets to the post. He’s a former state budget director and former Reno city manager.

He was hired after a nationwide search and will be paid $205,000 a year.

Clinger, his wife Stacie and three children live in Reno. He himself is a 1995 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno and two of his children attend UNR.

“Where I’m really going to hit the ground running is with my state budget and legislative experience,” he said. “That’s obviously my strength.”

He said his experience at the city working with an elected board will also help.

“Until you’ve worked for a board I don’t know if people appreciate the dynamics of what it takes to be successful working for a board,” Clinger said.

He served as budget director under three governors — Kenny Guinn, Jim Gibbons, and Sandoval. He left in June 2011 to become Reno city manager and returned to Sandoval’s staff in January 2017.

Both as budget director and at the city, Clinger was overseeing serious financial problems when he took the job. At the state, he was named budget director just as the recession hit in 2007.

“Almost during my whole tenure we were cutting budgets,” he said.

When he arrived at the city manager’s office, Reno was in dire financial straits and on the Department of Taxation’s watch list amid allegations of illegal money transfers from the enterprise fund.

The economy is much better now and the university system healthy and a key player in workforce development.

“I think it’s important for the system to demonstrate the critical role they play in the economic recovery we’ve enjoyed,” he said.

He said he starts work at NSHE the day after Christmas.