By Kristina Michel
In August, David Ellis and other University of Houston staff were honored with a President’s Excellence Award. The moment was one of many highlights in Ellis’ 33-year career at UH.
“I wasn’t even aware that my staff had put in a nomination for me. It was very humbling,” he said.
Ellis currently serves as executive director of financial reporting. He has been involved in finance since high school. Interestingly enough, he came into the career of finance, and eventually to the University of Houston, through a series of happy coincidences. During his senior year in high school, while he was still trying to decide on a college major, he had entered a lottery to take driver’s education.
“Everyone wanted to take driver’s education, and there were only so many slots,” said Ellis. “I wasn’t one of the students chosen, so the counselor gave me two other choices: study hall, for which you get no credit, and bookkeeping. I had no idea what bookkeeping was, but you got credit for it. So I decided, ‘Well, I’ll try it.’”
Ellis ended up enjoying the class, so much so that when it was time to enter college, he picked accounting as his major. He graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown with a B.B.A. in accounting.
Ellis entered the job market at a time when the Texas economy was in a downturn, so not many jobs were available. However, he broadened his job search to the whole state of Texas and came across an opening in the Texas State Auditor’s Office in Austin.
“I didn’t know at the time that the state starts its new year on Sept. 1. So when I applied in August, I was lucky because they were looking to hire new people,” said Ellis. “If I had applied back in May, there probably wouldn’t have been an offering.”
At the interview, they asked Ellis if he was willing to work in Houston. Having grown up in Houston and with many friends and family still in the area, Ellis responded he would be happy to work in Houston. That turned out to be the only answer in that interview that really mattered.
“The people in Austin didn’t like traveling back and forth to Houston, and they were looking for somebody who was willing to work there,” said Ellis. “But they didn’t know Houston was where I actually wanted to be. It worked out very well for all of us. They got their person willing to work in Houston, and I got to work where I always wanted to.”
With the Texas State Auditor’s Office, Ellis traveled throughout the greater Houston area conducting audits at colleges and universities, including at the University of Houston. He also regularly traveled to and from Austin. By 1984, Ellis had grown weary of all the constant travel and was ready to settle down. When an opening became available in the auditing department at UH, he applied.
“In some ways, it was not like getting a new job. It was the same people I had been working with, so that made it an easy transition,” said Ellis.
Ellis eventually transitioned from auditing to financial reporting, and he worked his way up to become executive director. During his time with the University, he has worked through 18 Texas legislative sessions, 10 University of Houston president terms and nine UH System chancellor terms. He has experienced exciting technological and automation developments in his field. He has watched the UH campus expand exponentially and evolve into the Tier One powerhouse it is today.
Through it all, however, Ellis says that there is one thing that has always remained constant – the thing that keeps him here: the people.
“At least half of my very best friends are ones that I have made because I met them here at UH,” he said. “People who come here and are happy here think of this place as home. There’s a spirit of unity, pride and cooperation.”
When he’s not working, Ellis enjoys watching baseball and traveling out of state. He has visited 48 of the 50 U.S. states. All he has left to visit are Alaska and Hawaii. His dentist has suggested a new challenge for him after he’s visited all 50 states: visiting all the Major League Baseball stadiums in America.
“That’s my next goal,” said Ellis. “I already have a start on that one too. I’ve been to 10 stadiums so far.”