Treasurer
As treasurer of DePaul University, Jeffrey Bethke is the financial officer overseeing investment administration, treasury management, capital finance and the real estate-related activities of the university. He is responsible for administering the university investment portfolios, which collectively exceed $500 million, and managing all university banking and borrowing relationships. He has directed more than $375 million in bond issuance activity for the university and has negotiated the acquisition or lease of more than 550,000 square feet of commercial and academic space. His office also acts as lessor for more than 30 retail and commercial tenants.
Bethke is the president of the Educational Advancement Fund, a private higher education support institution that operates a 1,720-bed high rise dormitory in downtown Chicago on behalf of DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University. He is also the investment chair of the DePaul University defined contribution retirement plan as well as an oversight committee member of the DePaul University Student Managed Investment Fund. He is a member of the university’s Joint Council and its Executive Compliance Committee.
He has served as treasurer since 2008. He joined the university in 2002 and previously served as associate treasurer, associate vice president for budgets, chief of staff for the executive vice president of the university, and the director of procurement. Before DePaul, Bethke was a principal at a Chicago-based management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and organizational development. He began his business career in corporate marketing and finance at a market-leading national retailer, where he oversaw merchandise fulfillment and vendor negotiations and managed $500 million in annual consumer product purchases. He also served as director of procurement for the 79-branch Chicago Public Library System.
Bethke has an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (now the Booth School of Business) and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and history from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.