A People-Centered Approach to Accounting: Exploring the Career of Liz Heavner

“Every situation is different. You just have to be ready.” This is ethos of International Accounting Manager Liz Heavner, recipient of the ’25-’26 Provost Award for Excellence in Global Education. In her 30+ year career at JMU she has seen everything from thefts, fraud, emergency medical procedures, evacuations, and memorably, a faculty member being robbed while on the phone with her office. While the work often takes place behind the scenes, it’s never boring. As Heavner says “It’s not the most glamorous work, but if it doesn’t go well, people notice.” While most people never see this work, it’s essential to maintain JMU’s global footprint, and Heavner’s incredible commitment during her career is why she’s being honored with the Provost Award this year. 

Heavner started at JMU in 1995, initially working with Dr. Bijan, advising international students. She transitioned to accounting because there was more flexibility for her while starting a family. When remembering this time in her career, Heavner joked that she “moved from the ‘importing’ side to the ‘exporting’ side” supporting programs abroad. The change stuck, and she’s been leading international accounting ever since, though the work itself has evolved significantly over time.  

The role of International Accounting is to manage JMU’s global infrastructure. Heavner and her team oversee 23 bank accounts in 4 different countries, manage property logistics and payroll for JMU’s semester programs; they hire international staff, deal with vendors, and coordinate legal representation in multiple jurisdictions. Every aspect of their work needs to be customized for the country they’re operating in, and the standards vary widely. Heavner says, “There’s a lot of gray areas in this work. At every turn there’s a new situation and you just have to figure it out.” Doing this work requires a flexible mindset and ability to solve problems on the fly. 

When Heavner started leading the International Accounting office, she realized something crucial: the work is less about the numbers and more about the people. More specifically, at its core, her role is to support the students and faculty going abroad. “When faculty are successful, students win” Heavner says, “and when the students win, we all win.” Her focus on student outcomes guides her office’s efforts toward this common goal. It’s worth emphasizing this point, because it strikes at the heart of what makes Heavner’s career noteworthy. Her emphasis on the people involved makes her approach to the complex workings of international accounting both approachable and seamless from the traveler’s perspective. Summarizing it herself, Heavner says “I love figuring out how to make things happen for people. It’s not hand-holding, it’s support… If my child were going abroad, what would I want for them? That’s how I think about it.” It would be easy for her focus to erode over the years. After all, she rarely interacts with students directly, and her office is tucked away on the edge of campus in Massanutten Hall. It’s a remarkable achievement that her people-centered approach hasn’t strayed, and to the contrary, has grown more empathetic over the years. 

Even with a solid, people-centered approach to the work, there are challenging times. Heavner’s office is routinely tested with difficult situations and new problems to solve. The single biggest challenge, according to Heavner, was the series of decisions around the pandemic in the spring of 2020. They had to bring students home from their programs early and provide refunds to students whose programs were cancelled. These decisions had financial implications for JMU, but also an emotional impact on the students. Thankfully, JMU stepped up to take care of the affected students, but the work of recovering prepaid funds from vendors, airlines, and hotels took years to fully conclude. To get through the challenges, Heavner gives full credit to her team, saying “I couldn’t do this without them.” The 5+ people in the International Accounting office all have different areas of expertise that come in very useful when needing to solve complex problems quickly. 

Looking to the future, Heavner sees lots of growth and evolution in JMU’s key international programs. “There will be change, but we’re used to that” says Heavner, “There’s strong leadership and vision, especially in CGE, which will lead to new partnerships and initiatives.” Of course, with an expanding profile of programs comes more complexity, so lately Heavner has been focused on building systems and processes that can scale up appropriately. 

Liz Heavner has learned many things in her career at JMU, but the most important lesson is that people matter. Though the work of International Accounting often goes unsung, she thinks the invisibility of her office is a mark of pride, because it means the systems she set up are working properly. When reflecting on all this Heavner says modestly, “I’ve had a really good experience at JMU; it’s been a great ride.” Indeed, every student and faculty member who has had a positive experience traveling abroad has Heavner to thank in some capacity. The fact that it goes smoothly more than it goes poorly is evidence that her approach is working.