New CFO J’Maine Chubb tackles Texas Southern University’s financial challenges

Texas Southern University’s new CFO, J’Maine Chubb, is pivoting the institution’s financial operations toward the long-term vision of the university’s Ascend 2030 plan. While navigating the technical rebuild required to resolve recent audit findings, Chubb frames his tenure as a strategic mission. He wants to modernize the university’s fiscal health and ensure sustainable support for its ambitious growth and student-centered initiatives.

Almost 60 days on the job, working with a team of 45, Chubb says, “We’re making the right informed decisions regarding the future. That means I need to put the past behind us.”

Pointing to two decades of airport and infrastructure CFO experience at Via Metropolitan Transit (San Antonio), TravelWifi, the Houston Airport System, and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, among others, Chubb said he feels comfortable tackling the challenges of the job.

“All of the concerns that I see within this organization are just related to excellence… excellence in what you do,” Chubb said. “I’m accustomed to performing in excellence. And I’ve led organizations where we’ve been continually awarded for financial reporting. We’ve had very strong procurement compliance within these organizations. And so I didn’t see something that was insurmountable. And I thought that I was the right person to come and fix it.”

University President J.W. Crawford III said Chubb’s private-sector experience will be valuable to the position.

“As you look at Mr. Chubb’s 20 years of deep experience in the corporate sector, he has demonstrated the ability to adapt himself to the mission,” Crawford said. “It is incumbent upon the University to operate like a business. He will bring a disciplined financial mindset to the institution that I believe will be extremely valuable.”

Fixing state audit concerns

TSU has been grappling with an audit since December 2025, when the Texas State Auditor’s Office released a report identifying “significant weaknesses” in TSU’s financial processes.

The report stated that TSU repeatedly bypassed procurement safeguards, untraceable assets worth roughly $3.2 million, failure to provide timely and accurate financial information to the Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts, and unaudited financial data submitted to the state containing major errors, among other discrepancies.

The audit triggered increased scrutiny from state leaders. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ordered restrictions on certain university spending, while state officials launched investigations into the university’s financial management practices.

University officials have acknowledged the audit’s findings and committed to implementing corrective measures. Crawford previously attributed many of the deficiencies to long-standing staffing shortages, noting that more than 200 positions in critical areas such as procurement and information technology had been lost over the years.

TSU has since launched a broad remediation effort that includes reviewing financial policies, implementing new procurement systems, and strengthening internal controls.

The university says it is making progress through “Operation Tiger Reset,” a campus-wide initiative aimed at addressing audit findings and strengthening accountability and financial oversight.

As the institution continues working through audit recommendations and heightened state oversight, Chubb will play a central role in guiding TSU’s financial recovery.

Chubb says he wants to tackle the audit head-on as his top priority.

“When you look at the state audit, we’re feverishly working to make sure that we’re in compliance and we remain in compliance with that audit,” Chubb said.

Referring to his goals for the first 180 days, Chubb said staying in compliance with the state audit is only the starting point. 

“I’m looking personally to move beyond that,” he said, describing plans for a compliance framework built around continuous monitoring. “Some people will say real-time auditing.”

The future of TSU

Chubb described himself repeatedly as a “strategic CFO,” someone whose focus is less on relitigating the past than on positioning TSU’s finance operations to support its long-range Ascend 2030 plan.

“You can’t talk about new buildings, new football stadiums, new soccer fields, and things like that without looking into the future,” Chubb said. “I want to make sure that we have the right capability in place to support our capital committee within the organization.”

To keep himself accountable, Chubb plans to create a “CFO scorecard” and believes the real test is whether the finance division supports student outcomes.

“If you look at Ascend 2030, it’s mostly about the projects that are contained there, the initiatives,” Chubb said. “They’re really all about student success. You can tie them back to student success one way or another.”