{"id":109254,"date":"2026-06-01T17:57:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=109254"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:57:37","slug":"uris-abby-benson-honored-as-providence-business-news-woman-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/uris-abby-benson-honored-as-providence-business-news-woman-to-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"URI\u2019s Abby Benson honored as Providence Business News\u2019 \u2018Woman to Watch\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 1, 2026 \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/adminfinance\/meet\/abby-s-benson\/\">Abby Benson<\/a>, the University of Rhode Island\u2019s vice president of administration and finance, was recently honored as a \u201cWoman to Watch\u201d within education by the Providence Business News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Benson was <a href=\"https:\/\/pbn.com\/reshaping-uri-from-the-inside-out\/\">formally recognized by PBN<\/a> during its Business Women Awards ceremony held in late May at the Marriott Providence. The awards program recognizes top businesswomen within Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts for their work in various for-profit, nonprofit and government operations, and beyond. The \u201cWoman to Watch\u201d award honors businesswomen whose noteworthiness and work within their respective sectors is on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis award from the Providence Business News, which I am honored to receive, is a testament to all the hard, and often behind the scenes, work done to secure URI\u2019s role as one of the country\u2019s preeminent flagship institutions for now and for generations to come,\u201d Benson said. \u201cIt takes an entire community to make URI special for faculty, students, and staff, and I\u2019m proud to be a part of it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Benson, who serves as the University\u2019s chief financial officer, was lauded by PBN for playing a critical role in strengthening URI\u2019s financial foundation during a significantly complex period. She led a University-wide balanced budget initiative to address structural deficits and align spending with institutional priorities, while helping implement a new budget model that will transform how resources are allocated across URI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, Benson helped lead the development of URI\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/uri-board-of-trustees-approves-new-campus-plan-charting-bold-vision\/\">comprehensive campus plan<\/a>, a bold vision to modernize the University\u2019s campuses and facilities that will enhance the overall URI experience over the next two decades. Benson\u2019s work at URI also includes overseeing more than $1 billion in capital planning and major projects, such as new academic facilities, athletics improvements and critical infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PBN also recognized Benson\u2019s efforts to recruit key senior leaders across finance, facilities, information technology, and procurement to URI, while advancing other major initiatives such as implementing e-procurement and establishing enterprise risk management structures. She also successfully led complex, high-stakes initiatives\u2014including public-private partnerships, and Board-level policy and legislative efforts\u2014demonstrating her ability to lead through complexity and deliver results for URI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 1, 2026 \u2013 Abby Benson, the University of Rhode Island\u2019s vice president of administration and finance, was recently honored as a \u201cWoman to Watch\u201d within education by the Providence Business News. Benson was formally recognized by PBN during its Business Women Awards ceremony held in late May at the Marriott Providence. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":109255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1924],"class_list":["post-109254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-staff-excellence"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109256,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109254\/revisions\/109256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}