Berklee Announces Paul Dworkis as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Paul S. Dworkis has been named Berklee’s new executive vice president and chief financial officer, beginning April 15. Collaborating with academic and administrative colleagues across Berklee, he will provide vision, strategic and operational leadership, and oversight of the finance, accounting, budget, real estate, facilities, risk management, emergency management, and business services areas. 

A strategy-driven, people-first leader with more than 40 years of expertise in operations, technology, international business, and facilities and administrative services, Dworkis comes to Berklee from Emerson College, where he served as vice president for administration and finance and CFO for five years until retiring in January.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Paul Dworkis join us at Berklee. His experience in the world of higher education—creating supportive environments for creative students and faculty—is unparalleled,” said Berklee President Jim Lucchese. “Paul has a proven track record of innovating, problem-solving, and decision-making at the highest levels of an organization. We share the philosophy that everything we do comes back to our students and how to best meet their needs. I look forward to collaborating with him to drive innovation across the financial operations of the institution.”  

At Emerson, Dworkis led the college’s financial, administration, and operational functions in support of its academic, community-focused, and mission-oriented goals; he also oversaw facilities, public safety, and risk management functions, as well as auxiliary services, including dining operations. His team provided analysis, data, and research to support decision-making toward achieving the college’s objectives and build financial strength and capacity to meet Emerson's capital, real estate, and campus needs. He cofounded and cosponsored Emerson’s partnership with the City of Boston and the Parks Department to activate a portion of the Boston Common, launching the successful unCommon Stage that served 100,000 visitors in its inaugural season. He also served as Emerson’s primary liaison and board member of the Boston Consortium, and as a board member of EdHEALTH. 

Prior to Emerson, Dworkis served as vice president for finance and CFO at the University of Maryland for six years, providing financial and strategic expertise to leadership in support of the university’s academic, research, public service, and administrative goals and objectives. He collaborated with the office of the provost on the university’s administrative modernization program, a successful effort to drive operational excellence and identify and create efficiencies that led to significant upgrades to the university’s budget model and development and implementation of a cost of education analytical model. 

Additionally, Dworkis served as associate vice president of finance and administration at Columbia University in New York, where he held several senior administrative and financial roles, including serving as CFO for the Student and Administrative Services division. Among his key responsibilities, he led primary financial oversight of the university’s $500 million fringe benefits pool, which funded employee benefits, such as health care, retirement, and tuition assistance. Prior to his work in higher education, he held a number of leadership positions during his 20-year tenure at Newsweek in New York, including CFO and senior vice president, controller/vice president, and assistant controller. 

“Berklee is truly special—an institution whose mission, creativity, and global impact are unmatched,” said Dworkis. “The opportunity to contribute to such a vibrant and visionary community was too meaningful to pass up. I’m honored to join Berklee at this exciting moment and to help support its continued growth and innovation.”

Dworkis holds a Master of Business Administration in accounting from Bernard M. Baruch College, City University of New York, and a Bachelor of Science in business management from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.