John Arvin named associate vice chancellor for Capital Strategies

UC Berkeley’s Vice Chancellor of Finance Rosemarie Rae has made this announcement:

Dear Campus Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of John Arvin as UC Berkeley’s next associate vice chancellor for Capital Strategies. John comes to our campus from Woodridge Capital Partners, where he was vice president of Community Development. John previously spent 15 years with Pardee Homes, a premier developer of master planned communities, where he oversaw all infrastructure for their real estate development operations. He will begin his new role at Berkeley on Feb. 4.

John Arvin is the new associate vice chancellor of UC Berkeley’s Office of Capital Strategies. (Photo courtesy of John Arvin)

John joins our campus at a critical time, as we continue improving our financial outlook and capacity for capital projects, advancing the chancellor’s commitment to build student housing and addressing critical replacement or renovation of aging facilities and infrastructure. In his role as associate vice chancellor, John will direct UC Berkeley’s Office of Capital Strategies — staffed with architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers, construction specialists and real estate professionals. A pragmatic and motivated problem solver, John will offer vital counsel to campus leadership on the development of facilities, provide oversight to construction planning and projects across campus and serve as an important liaison to the UC Office of the President, the City of Berkeley and the community of Berkeley.

John received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State Polytechnic University and his master’s degree in business from the University of San Diego. Over the course of his career, John has gained extensive expertise in the areas of project entitlement, design development, permitting, construction management and cost control. He has permitted over 30,000 residential housing units and managed over $3 billion in design and infrastructure. His most recent success was securing the entitlement for Northlake, a 3,150-unit residential master plan in Los Angeles County.

I have no doubt that John will be a valuable addition to UC Berkeley, leveraging his development skills and experience to help address a wide range of challenges — from student housing and energy efficiency to seismic remediation and long range development planning — to meet the continually evolving needs of the nation’s top public research university. John’s appointment marks the culmination of a long search process and I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the entire search committee for their diligent work.

Please join me in welcoming John Arvin to the Berkeley campus.

Sincerely,

Rosemarie Rae, Vice Chancellor of Finance