Treasurer Candidate #2

Harley Valdez

"Innovation. Precision. Execution."

Harley's photos were captured by:

Kyle Navarro / The Avion

Meet Your Treasurer Candidate Harley!

Harley Valdez

Graduate, MS Business Administration

"Leader. Mentor. Competitor. I am Harley Valdez, your SGA Treasurer Candidate, and always defining the standard. I'm an ambitious individual involved in numerous organizations across campus, such as ERAU Cheerleading, Delta Chi, and SGA Student Treasury. I have served as SGA Treasurer for the past year, innovating the RSO & Division funding processes, creating record-high collections ratings for RSOs, and topping every record for RSO funding. During my undergrad as a Mechanical Engineer, I served on the SGA Student Treasury Board three times, was elected as an RSO President, RSO Treasurer for 3 years, and achieved 6 consecutive semesters of perfect spending, budget increases, & 100% collection's ratings.

I hope to use my extensive experience to completely revolutionize the SGA funding processes, improve SGA spending efficiency, and create new funding programs and opportunities for students to take direct advantage of."

  • What is your platform for this campaign? How does it stand out?

    "My platform is based on clarity and revolutionization. From well before day one, I have extremely ambitious plans outlined for the overall SGA budget. What makes my platform unique is there is context to this year. Being SGA Treasurer has given me the knowledge to plan around the numerous long-term projects that exist and plan to be developed year to year. This allows me to create extremely precise plans for change and know the best ways to make it happen from both legislative and logistical standpoints. Another thing I think is absolutely important is opening up the transparency of a lot of "sensitive" financial information. A lot of people have very little knowledge of what their SGA Fee actually does or how the SGA operates financially. I would like to better educate the student body as a whole on the finances of the SGA in hopes that information will alleviate frustrations and increase interaction with the various events put on by the SGA."

  • What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position?

    "I have been involved in RSO finances since 2018 across 3 RSOs, served as a Treasurer for 3 years, President for 1 year, been elected to the SGA Student Treasury board 3 times, and have served as SGA Treasurer for the past 2 semesters. While I was an RSO Treasurer, I had 6 consecutive semesters of 100% collections resulting in cumulative total budget increases of $12.5K.

    As an SGA Treasurer, I have learned the complete process for SGA funding and its programs and have made various improvements already. This means I have completely analyzed the current system and identified the strengths and weaknesses of how the SGA finances operate, along with already formulating a long-term plan of solutions I plan to execute in the future. This extensive experience makes me the most qualified candidate for the position as I know the RSO funding process and many of the SGA's inner workings to the fullest extent in both its pros and cons."

  • As the SGA's Treasurer, you are responsible for managing and approving the budgets of organizations across campus. How will you ensure that money is distributed fairly and that organizations have what they need to operate?

    "As I mentioned in my campaign, I plan to facilitate the implementation of brand-new financial systems that will accomplish just that. The new systems allow all organizations within the SGA to make financial requests with higher precision and more detail in their requests, leading to a better distribution of the finite money source and allows the Student Treasury Board to make evaluations on more quantitative metrics.

    I would like to work with every organization to include their minimum operating cost in requests to give the Student Treasury more information on absolute numbers and approval amounts. Due to all the data and strict guidelines the student treasury follows, all determinations will be entirely objective and remove any opinion or bias in the current evaluation system. To further improve this system, I also want to create a new education program for the SGA Student Treasury members, giving them full background information on the state of RSOs and Divisions."

  • How would you define risk management in relation to your position and how would you use this skill in your position if elected?

    "Risk management in the SGA Treasurer's position comes down solely to how regulations are implemented and enforced and how the Student Treasury Board is guided on rulings for various financial situations they face. At the end of the day, it's all about mitigating the risk of overspending on the budget or a disproportionate spread of funds occurring due to certain guidelines. This can be solved through careful legislation and real-time planning each semester for the ever-evolving finances and unforeseen factors. I would be sure to implement a list of objective policies that will increase the number of metrics used in decision-making and sharpen existing legislation to close any loopholes or vague terms that may impact overall budget request and approval quality. The biggest risk currently is overspending in certain categories of the budget. I would employ solutions to ensure that the budget is moved around from various categories, from the less demanding ones to the more demanding options."

  • What does the SGA mean to you?

    "The SGA means innovation to me. Everyone who joins the SGA is looking to make an improvement, change, or impact on campus to help the greater good. Through the years, we have had some of the greatest leaders and projects from the SGA that have improved campus life for the student body. The SGA also means opportunity in my eyes. It enables students to give back to their school and community and gives them professional leadership experience they wouldn't be able to find across campus. Many of the students who join the SGA become excellent leaders in other facets of their life, and improve not only the SGA but every other organization in which they participate. Passing on this growth and opportunity is absolutely crucial to me, as I hope many other leaders come after me and make significant changes of their own."