Two Sacramento State officials with ties to Capital Public Radio leave university
Two Sacramento State officials with ties to Capital Public Radio are no longer working at the school.
Jonathan Bowman, Sac State’s chief financial officer, resigned, the university announced Tuesday. Bena Arao, a director of academic affairs resources at Sac State, is retiring, according to an internal notice sent Wednesday that was obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
Bowman joined the school in 2019 after working as a business administration manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, according to a hiring announcement. Two years later, he was credited with identifying inconsistencies in CapRadio’s finances that led to an audit by the California State University system. That review, published last year, identified widespread financial problems and concerns at the station, including poor record-keeping, large debts and lease agreements that were signed without proper board approval.
Bowman was later appointed to the CapRadio board by then-President Robert Nelsen and Bowman’s team took over the station’s financial operations in August, according to the university. He is no longer on the board, according to CapRadio’s website.
The station is still under the financial control of the university. Sac State holds the broadcast licenses for CapRadio’s main stations KXJZ-FM (90.9) and KXPR-FM (88.9).
Efforts to reach Bowman by phone and email were not successful. The announcement did not give a reason for his resignation.
The timeline of Arao’s retirement was not disclosed in the email sent to faculty and staff, and a university spokesman did not immediately comment on the move. Arao worked at the university for 18 years in resource and facilities management.
He was the treasurer of CapRadio’s board when he resigned from the role in October. That came shortly after the audit and at the same time as the resignation of 13 other board members who quit in a letter to current Sac State president Luke Wood.
Arao, in an email, directed questions to a Sac State spokeswoman. The school’s announcement did not give a reason for his retirement.
More news about CapRadio’s finances is expected soon. A deeper financial review ordered last year by Wood has not yet been released.
