In the Spotlight: Howard Leslie
Teresa Gehrer
HESC is pleased to shine the spotlight on Howard Leslie, the Dean of Student Financial Services at Monroe College, and the recently elected Second Vice President of NYSFAAA.
Howard began his career in financial aid in 1977.
He graduated college with a master’s degree in Psychology and Guidance Counseling, but found few job opportunities in that field. After spending the summer after college as a lifeguard, Howard landed at the Kathleen Brown Secretarial School.
Howard describes his first job as "full service." He remembers fulfilling every imaginable type of role at the school, from financial aid and academic counselor to administrative assistant and, yes, even cleaner.
From there Howard moved on to the Drake Business School, and after a brief stay, in 1980 he moved again to the School of Visual Arts. Howard moved up through the ranks quickly and, two years later, became the school’s financial aid director.
“This is the job where I really learned financial aid. Computers became commonplace and the industry was adapting to an electronic world."
Howard embraced the introduction of new technologies, trained Region 6’s NYSFAAA members on the Electronic Data Exchange (EDE) process for the federal government, and eventually assisted in EDE training nationwide. He also acted as consultant to a company called Bit Cyber and advised on the development of the Financial Aid Management module for PeopleSoft.
Throughout the years, Howard has brought many new ideas to HESC. While serving on the HESC Loan Subcommittee, Howard’s School of Visual Arts office was a lead beta test site for HESC's electronic loan processing systems, and, as a result became the first to process loans electronically. Howard continues to serve on HESC's School Advisory Council and is currently involved in the consortium developing the Datatel TAP module.
A member of NYSFAAA since he first started in financial aid, Howard has taken on many challenges on behalf of the organization. He was a member of the NYSFAAA Executive Council on behalf of Region 6 from 1993 through 1996. He first served as Chair of the Loan Services Committee, and later coordinated the NYSFAAA Hotline, worked on the Guidance Counselor workshops, and became Chair of the Government Relations Committee. Most recently, he has been the Chair of the Professional Standards and Ethics Committee.
Howard is an accomplished composer and musician. If he had more free time, he'd like to write more music and study philosophy.
He is never without a family picture, be it of his wife, Lisa, his son, daughter in-law and grandson, or his poodle, Pokeo. In fact, he and his wife would like to open a small dog rescue organization when they retire.
With another grandchild on the way, you can be sure Howard will have some updated family photos the next time you see him!
HESC wishes Howard well as he takes on a new role with NYSFAAA, and we look forward to working with him for years to come.