In 1981, a recent California State University Northridge graduate named Jerry Mann took a low-profile job as an assistant financial manager at Associated Students UCLA. Mann, who grew up in West Los Angeles, always considered himself a Bruin fan and was excited about the opportunity to work at UCLA.
Nearly 27 years later, Mann is leaving after a stint at ASUCLA that included several roles, such as the student union director and the manager of student government accounting, in which he interacted frequently with students. He is currently the director of student support services and business analysis.
“When I joined the student government accounting department in 1988, that was when I found my calling,” Mann said.
From the very beginning, Mann said he tried to work in a small group setting with students to help them realize that whatever their programmatic or financial needs were, ASUCLA would try to meet them.
“ASUCLA can be somewhat of a bureaucracy, and my job was to demystify the bureaucracy and make things clear to the students,” he added.
As the financial manager for student government accounting, Mann worked closely with the Undergraduate Students Association Council and the Graduate Student Association.
“I oversaw how money was spent through USAC and through that role I was able to form quite a few friendships with council members,” he said.
Mann was appointed director of the student union in 1995, at a time when ASUCLA was losing money and Ackerman Union was undergoing renovation.
“A big part of what I worked on during that time period was keeping us focused during our seismic renovation and financial crisis,” he said.
One of the major changes resulting from the financial crisis of the mid-1990s was the restructuring of the ASUCLA board of directors.
Mann said the board rearranged its membership and became much more aware of its role to make ASUCLA a healthy enterprise.
“It was a great tribute to our student board members who helped ASUCLA remain independent and viable,” he said.
Bob Williams, the executive director of ASUCLA, said Mann understands better than anyone the unique relationship ASUCLA has with students.
“Jerry has been a great friend and has been one of my key directors. He will be greatly missed at ASUCLA,” Williams said.
The current student union director, Roy Champawat, said that Mann believed in the mission of the student union, which seeks to enrich student lives and enable them to find expression.
Mann’s next step is a move to the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, where he will serve as the student union director.
He said he hopes to bring his experience working with a student-governed association to the East Coast because he said East Coast schools do not have much student involvement.
But he added that he will miss working at UCLA, particularly the people.
“The folks I worked with and who worked under me ““ I couldn’t think of a finer group of people to associate with,” he said.