Carl Gayden provides broad leadership and management of strategic planning and administrative services for the Graduate School of Management. As a key advisor to the dean, associate dean for academic affairs, and the associate dean for curriculum and student affairs, Gayden serves as the School’s leader in strategic planning, program development, financial planning and forecasting, policy setting, organizational development, risk management, and human resource management.

Gayden joined the School in December of 2012, bringing more than 15 years of diverse leadership and professional experience in tactical and operations planning, strategy, financial and administrative management, modeling, revenue generation, analysis and control.

Gayden came to UC Davis from the University of San Francisco’s School of Management, where he served as the associate dean for finance and administration. At the University of San Francisco, Hewas responsible for the overall financial, operations and administrative management with direct oversight for the functional areas of administrative support, budget, payroll, facilities, procurement, financial reporting, analysis and planning, legal, human resources, labor relations, staff development, training and information technology. He also advised the dean on strategic planning and operations.

He spent the majority of his career in financial services, holding a variety of leadership roles including the assistant vice president and loan fulfillment and pricing team manager for Washington Mutual Bank and as the secondary marketing and pricing lock desk team Leader for Homecomings Financial, a subsidiary of Residential Funding Corporation (GMAC-RFC) and General Motors. Gayden also has served as the co-founder and vice president of sales and marketing for Newtrendz Event Planning Corporation and worked as an associate and senior credit analyst for Silicon Valley Bank. 

He serves on the Board of Groceries for Seniors, a community based non-profit organization that provides free food to poor, elderly people in San Francisco. He is also a member of the Association of Accountants and Financial Professionals in Business, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Financial Management Association.