Tim LeFort

Title: Grants Administrator

Number of Grants Administrators in TSRI's Department of Sponsored Programs: 12.

Duties: Keeping track of a lab's grant money, including budgeting for costs, tracking payroll, spreading costs among multiple grants, keeping up-to-date on ever-changing rules for different grants, and compiling a monthly report for each investigator. "I try to get the money side of things running smoothly so the researchers can concentrate on the science. It's like balancing a big checkbook or looking out for the bottom line in a business."

Number of Principal Investigators He Works With: 30.

Also Works Closely With: The labs' administrative assistants. "Helpful, experienced administrative assistants make my job a lot easier!"

Favorite Part of Job: "Being able to ease the scientists' worries about money. I try to be the best financial advisor I can."

Started at TSRI: 1988.

Background: Bachelor's in accounting from University of California, Santa Barbara. Also attended University of California, San Diego, when he fell in love with San Diego beaches and surfing. Previous employment with Los Angeles-based Hughes Aircraft, in internal accounting—"not so different from what I do here."

Home Life: Wife and three kids, ages five, ten, and twelve. (LeFort balances the checkbook at home, too.)

Extracurriculars: Surfing year 'round (especially on Fridays, while waiting for northbound traffic to subside); skiing in the winter.

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"I try to be the best financial advisor [to the scientists] I can," says Tim Lefort, pictured here with a few of the monthly reports he sends investigators. Photo by Kevin Fung.