Daniel Frockt, chief financial officer for Louisville Metro Government since 2015, will become Bellarmine University’s Vice President for Finance on July 1. Frockt, who was selected following a national search, replaces Bob Zimlich, who is retiring
after 39 years at Bellarmine.
“Daniel Frockt distinguished himself in a highly competitive national pool of candidates,” said Dr. Paul Gore, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, who co-chaired the search committee with Bellarmine Trustee Barry Fields ‘88.
“His extensive financial experience and business acumen will be invaluable to Bellarmine University as it fully implements its strategic plan, launches community engagement and partnership initiatives, and deploys several highly anticipated
academic programs. I look forward to working very closely with Daniel to promote academic excellence and innovation at Bellarmine University.”
Bellarmine President Susan M. Donovan said that Frockt’s lengthy experience in ensuring that Metro government had the resources to fulfill its strategic plan will support the university in realizing its own ambitious goals.
“Daniel’s experience in key areas of financial management, including budgeting and planning, and a record of successful, progressive leadership in a comparably complex setting have prepared him well for this important senior leadership
position at Bellarmine,” Donovan said. “We are thrilled to be welcoming him and look forward to introducing him to more members of our campus community, our trustees and alumni.”
As CFO of Louisville Metro, Frockt is responsible for the financial integrity of the government as well as customer service to 40 internal departments and agencies, the regional private sector, and residents of Louisville Metro. He leads approximately
160 employees in the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is responsible for the city’s finances, including its $1 billion annual operating and capital budget. As a member of Mayor Greg Fischer’s cabinet, he provides
input on strategic plan development and implementation.
Before he was CFO, Frockt was Louisville’s budget director for a decade.
“I recognize that there are differences in financial scale between my current organization and Bellarmine, but I have always been more concerned with the mission of the organization more than the number of zeroes on its balance sheet,”
Frockt said. “Like most of humankind, I desire to be part of something larger than myself where I can improve our community, have an impact, and take pride in the outcomes.”
Mayor Fischer praised Frockt as a wise and committed member of his leadership team. “With a calm yet firm hand, Daniel has helped us through economic good times and challenges, always approaching the budget process with a compassionate,
systematic and creative approach,” he said in a news release.
A Louisville native, Frockt holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
“I had the privilege of spending three weeks on Bellarmine’s campus in the summer of 1988 as a participant in the Governor’s School for the Arts program and have witnessed the extraordinary growth and transformation of the campus
over the last three decades,” he said. “It is inspiring to think of the further transformations for both the Louisville community and the student population over the next three decades with the completion of a fund-raising campaign,
a honed strategic plan, and Dr. Donovan’s leadership.”