Steve Bridges is genuine, caring and hardworking, Jeffrey Sickman said.

Sickman, controller and assistant business office director, has known Bridges for 21 years and reported to him directly for 15 of them.

Before Sickman worked for Bridges in 1996, the two went on a business trip together and when Sickman ended up in the hospital, Bridges stayed with him the entire night before attending the meeting the next morning.

Throughout his time at USI, Bridges has evolved from a student to an administrator to a parent. Starting Friday, Bridges will begin his new phase at USI as vice president of finance and administration.

Bridges has worked for the university for 26 years, during which he has played a variety of roles.

He is the associate vice president for operations and assistant treasurer, an alumnus, a donor and parent to a recent USI graduate and a current student.

During his time Bridges implemented many new programs at USI such as the eagle access card system and food services renovation, and led a campus wide project called BANNER, which is the enterprise resource system still in use today that is responsible for student, alumni, human resources and financial aid systems.

“Bridges was chosen to tab BANNER because people – from having worked with him – knew that he was someone who can work with people from all levels of an organization, he could build consensus, he listens and he gets things done,” Sickman said.

Sickman said oftentimes, on campus, people with questions ask for assistance from individuals who don’t want to answer or are apathetic.

“One of Bridges’ most distinguishing characteristics is his genuineness,” Sickman said. “He really does want to help people and he does want to do the right thing in the best way possible.”

As the VP for finance and administration, he will oversee business operations of the university facilities, human resources, information technology accounting functions, the business side of housing, eternal audit with the board of trustees, foundation accounting and security.

Bridges received his undergraduate degree and MBA at the university. He got his start in administration at his alma mater because of a mock interview through what is now called Career Services.

“The woman who interviewed me for my mock interview said she saw something in me that she thought USI would benefit from,” Bridges said.

Because Bridges is a first generation college student, he said the biggest obstacle he faced during his climb to success was not having someone there to guide him. Now he strives to be a guidefor people in his life.

“My biggest reward is – first off – my family,” he said. “I do everything I do for my family. And second is being able to come to work every day in a place that I want to work.”

Within his new role, Bridges hopes to streamline and support various future operations within the university’s future endeavors, he said.

“I have a perspective of who our students are because I have been one of our students,” Bridges said.

Bridges said he plans to build a revenue base for the university without having it affect student tuition. Because the university does not see much state funding, he also hopes to create new ideas to promote revenue.

“I would like to work with our faculty to find the best resources for programs to make sure that we are doing all we can to generate revenue for the university,” Bridges said.

In addition to this, Bridges hopes to create a way to drive the cost for books down for students by incorporating e-versions of textbooks that would be sold through the campus store.

He said he intends to continue making positive changes for students by gathering feedback from them to guarantee the university is moving in the direction they want.

“I love having an impact on the students at USI because these are the future leaders of the world,” he said. “I like to try and make their life better—as much as possible.”

One of the many individuals Bridges worked collaboratively with is Director of Development David Bower, who he’s known for 21 years.

Bower said the new VP’s best quality is his ability to collaborate with everyone involved on a project or event and listen to what everyone wants.

“Bridges takes the time to listen to everyone’s opinions that he is working with, seeks consensus and weighs what is best for the university,” Bower said. “This allows for everyone to leave happy.”

Bower said everything Bridges does is with passion and great integrity and it is evident that he only wants what will be most beneficial to the university.

“I have watched the man for over 20 years and he really cares about USI, especially considering that he has been approached to go to other institutions,” Sickman said. “It is his choice to be here and the university has someone that is committed to be here not because he has to, but because he wants to.”