Sewanee Welcomes New Chief Financial Officer
August 18, 2025
Isabelle Puckette Love, L’23, joined the University on Aug. 18 as chief financial officer and vice president for administration. Vice-Chancellor Rob Pearigen announced Love’s appointment in a letter to the Sewanee community on July 24, writing, “Isabelle’s varied experience in the higher education and nonprofit sectors, as well as her profound love for Sewanee, make her especially well-suited for this important position.” Love succeeds Doug Williams, C’81, who served as University treasurer for the past 10 years.
A graduate of Princeton University, Love began her career as an analyst with the Princeton University Investment Company (Princo), which manages Princeton’s endowment of over $34 billion. Though she originally intended to pursue a major in mathematics as an undergraduate, Love ultimately completed a degree in linguistics after finding that the discipline allowed her to combine a mathematical approach with her ongoing interest in language arts. And it was that interdisciplinary approach to her education, says Love, that set her up for success at Princo, where the ability to learn quickly and synthesize information was key.
After her time at Princo, Love took a position with Goldman Sachs in New York before realizing that her true passion lay within the nonprofit space. She then joined the staff at the Metropolitan Opera, the largest performing arts nonprofit organization in the United States, as director of special projects and deputy budget manager.
While at the Met, Love worked directly with the various department heads to develop and manage their budgets, a process that, much like her linguistics studies, allowed her to integrate her mathematical background with her enthusiasm for the arts. As Love sees it, that experience has perhaps most directly prepared her for the work ahead at Sewanee, where she will seek the financial and budgetary solutions that best allow the University to carry out its transformative educational mission.
For Love, joining the University administration represents a special kind of homecoming. Her grandfather, Stephen E. Puckette II, C’49, was a former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and some of her earliest childhood memories are of her regular visits to the Mountain. Her grandmother still lives in Sewanee, as do her aunt and uncle, Professor of Mathematics Emily Puckette and Director of the Sewanee Outing Program John Benson.
“I had always wanted to put down roots in Sewanee one day,” says Love, noting that she resided in Sewanee for three years during the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote working arrangements at the Met gave her the opportunity to both complete an M.F.A. at the School of Letters and experience life on the Mountain for a little while. The chance to return to Sewanee on a long-term basis as its chief financial officer was one that proved too attractive to resist.
“Everything in Sewanee, including casual interactions in the community, is underscored by an intellectual curiosity,” says Love. “In the same conversation, we can talk about spreadsheets and we can discuss Chaucer. So when I think about working with numbers and about working toward educational goals and serving people, where better than Sewanee to be able to pursue both?”
