“We’re ambitious and goal-oriented, so we’re always looking toward the future.”  

When Andrew Stahl finished high school in 2011, he couldn’t yet imagine his future career at OSU as a fiscal coordinator in the Payroll Office. In fact, he wasn’t sure where life would take him after graduation day. But he did know what was important to him. Growing up as a Boy Scout, he had learned the value of service and patriotism and guided by those principles, he decided to join the Navy.  

Stahl started working in the captain’s office on ships handling naval awards, official correspondence and other administrative work. During his four years in the Navy, he was based in San Diego and deployed twice to locations in the Middle East. Eventually, he began working in the ship’s payroll department, a job which would eventually lead to his current role at OSU. He finished his military career as a Yeoman 2nd Class (SW).  

“It was something that I ended up being good at,” he said. “People rotate every three years, which means that out of 350 people on the ship, we’re rotating 50 or 60 of them in and out each month. It’s kind of a large turnover, so I got very used to onboarding and offboarding employees.”  

After finishing his military service, Stahl returned to Bend, OR and attended Central Oregon Community College before graduating with a degree in finance from OSU in 2020. He spent a year and a half working for the Oregon Business Development Department before returning to OSU and moving into his current role.  

Stahl said that he hadn’t grown up dreaming of joining the military, but the impact the experience had on him was meaningful and continues to influence how he approaches his career today.  

“Everything in the military revolves around attention to detail,” he said. “In the military, when you make a mistake, you can hurt someone and you can hurt someone pretty badly. They really drill in being prepared and having all of our responsibilities be muscle memory. Similarly, in payroll, small details have big impacts on people and their families and so it matters to be correct, it matters to be accurate and it matters to get it right the first time.”  

He also believes that veterans generally bring a focused, disciplined and results-oriented approach to organizations like the Division of Finance and Administration.  

“We as service members are mission-focused and extremely adaptable,” he said. “We run towards challenges, we enjoy working as teams to exceed expectations, we take ownership of our work and we work hard to keep a reputation of reliability and dedication.” 

That drive for excellence paired with an ability to adapt makes staff with military backgrounds a valuable asset for any organization experiencing a major operational shift. Stahl specifically mentioned an ongoing OSU initiative, the Administrative Modernization Program (AMP), which will transition the university’s administrative processes to a modern, cloud-based system, streamline workflows and improve the user experience for students, faculty and staff.  

“We’re getting ready for a lot of change,” Stahl said.  “I’m running headfirst towards that change. And I’m not afraid of it, you know?”