This is the second part of a series profiling members of the Board of Regents, the governing board for the University of Wisconsin System.

Nobody ever told Regent Charles Pruitt it would be easy serving as chair of the Board of Regents' Business & Finance Committee, although few could have foreseen the scandals surrounding University of Wisconsin personnel policies and practices over the past few months — scandals Pruitt's committee is responsible for resolving.

"I have to say whether or not Chuck knew what he was getting into, chairing the committee at this juncture of the university's history is a daunting task," UW System spokesperson Doug Bradley said. "We're lucky to have him at the helm."

Pruitt said he had no reservations about accepting his appointment to the board, however, as he said higher education has been a longtime interest, and added he closely followed the UW System for 20 years after moving to the Milwaukee area.

"I'm originally from Minnesota but I've lived here now for about 23 years so I feel like I've lived here almost half my life," Pruitt said. "I think this is the best university system in the country."

Pruitt, one of only four regents not to hold a UW degree, earned his bachelor's degree from Macalester College in Minnesota and both his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

"He strikes me as a Wisconsin guy — he's got Wisconsin in his bones," Bradley said, adding UW System President Kevin Reilly also graduated from out-of-state institutions. "They [both] seem like Wisconsin folks and they understand what this university [system] is about."

In the past two regents' meetings, Pruitt's committee has passed meticulously written resolutions authorizing the suspension of much-disputed back-up appointments, imposing tougher standards on the investigation of employees convicted of felonies, and instigating a stricter sick-leave policy. Committee members even voted to change its name to the "Business, Finance & Audit Committee" in order to drive home their newly emphasized responsibility as the board's audit branch.

"I think we've done an awful lot [but] I don't think you ever can be totally satisfied," Pruitt said, adding the committee will make a decision at its November meeting about whether to remove the temporary ban on granting back-up appointments or permanently ban the sometimes abused system in favor of an alternative policy.

"We really tried to focus on these two principles of nobody should be paid for not working and people should be paid for the job that they're doing," Pruitt said. "The current system clearly has some holes in that regard and I think we have to plug the holes and we have to fix the holes."

Pruitt said he has yet to decide whether he favors maintaining the back-up appointment system or abandoning it for a contract system or something else altogether.

"I still want to kind of have some additional conversation at the Business, Finance & Audit Committee and really look at it," he said. "We obviously need to create a system that will ensure that we're doing what we promised to do … how we do that, we need to figure that out completely."