Third-year economics student Adam Forsgren aims to make the AMS’s monetary operations more accountable to students and expand its investment portfolio. His campaign promises improved management of the AMS’s financial systems, as well as continuing the fin-tech and investment reforms started last year.
As AMS financial systems coordinator, Forsgren oversees the integration and management of fin-tech platforms like Showpass into AMS events and helps manage a wide financial portfolio.
“A big part of doing the job is researching what kind of fin-tech and financial systems are out there,” he said. “I also get a lot of insight into each and every [AMS] position.”
Forsgren’s platform is based on drafting the first budget following a fee restructuring referendum drafted by current VP Financial Alim Lakhiyalov, forming a more comprehensive approach to budget formulation and improving the AMS’s financial management through new organizational platforms.
Forsgren hopes that these policies will engage students in the AMS’s everyday financial decision-making through increased consultation on fees and more focus on financial literacy for stakeholders.
“I would like to see students, if asked on the street ‘What does the AMS do?’ that they have an actual tangible answer to that,” Forsgren said. “As a student society as well as a nonprofit, there are so many aspects that I have no clue about and that I’m sure students don’t know.”
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Forsgren also said that he would focus on keeping students informed on AMS activities rather than just budget figures, emphasizing that transparency is a matter of showing the process — not just the result.
“I think it needs to be clear: what are we doing, how are we going to reach that goal, and what happened?”
Concretely, Forsgren’s policies represent little change from his predecessor. He would double the amount of credit cards available to clubs from 30 to 60 — something the VP Finance office already aims to do — and re-evaluate the AMS’s investment portfolio. He would also create a budget under the new guidelines passed by Lakhiyalov.
This is not the only way Forsgren is following in the incumbent’s footsteps — if elected, Forsgren will be the fifth consecutive VP Finance from the Sigma Chi fraternity. He attributed this legacy to its culture of “giving back” and personal excellence.
He also accepted an endorsement from the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), defending the organization while most candidates have rejected theirs amid allegations of insensitive questions about sexual assault support.
“The Greek community has offered so many positive experiences to a countless number of students,” said Forsgren in an emailed statement to The Ubyssey. “I believe the IFC’s questions — albeit contentious — were trying to understand Max’s platform in more depth.”
Overall, he stressed that his main motivations for running are to benefit the community and his own personal professional development.
“Being in the AMS felt like a natural succession to go and do what you want to do — that idea of progressing and giving back.”
This article has been updated to clarify that Forsgren would be the fifth consecutive VP Finance from Sigma Chi if elected.