Regular allocations for the Government of the Student Body kicks off Tuesday, but many students don’t know who’s in control of moving the money around.

The GSB finance committee oversees the regular allocations process, which distributes $1.2 million worth of student fees to different student organizations. At the forefront of the funding distribution is Jason Carroll, graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering, GSB finance director and chairman of the finance committee.

Carroll has been involved with GSB for most of his college career. He was elected to the senate at the end of his freshman year and has been involved ever since.

“It seemed like a good way to really see the big picture at Iowa State and then make an impact, too,” he said.

The GSB finance committee has been home for Carroll since halfway through his sophomore year. At that time, the finance committee had an opening and Carroll was asked to apply. Once Carroll learned about the committee and its impact, he never turned back.

Backgrounds in accounting or finance are not required to be part of this committee, Carroll said. The finance committee is about rules more than finance.

“We don’t really finance things,” Carroll said. “We’re not running balance sheets or doing any accounting stuff, it’s mostly interpreting rules and being able to apply them and then making the tough decisions.”

Carroll said there are some qualities most members possess. This includes being able to read and understand the GSB bylaws and rules, understanding and working with student organizations and making decisions.

Carroll said that while becoming the finance director mainly involves being appointed by the GSB president and confirmed by the senate, there is usually more to it.

“In all reality, you should probably be on finance committee for at least a year or more,” he said.

At the very least, Carroll said the finance director should be working with the finance committee a lot and know what’s going on.

As finance director of GSB, Carroll said his job is to help manage the funding that GSB has; however, he said that much of his time is spent explaining GSB funding.

“I think I, more, just answer questions,” he said.

In regards to regular allocations, Carroll sets everything up, answers any questions groups may have and does all of the paperwork. He also manages the committee’s meetings.

However, the funding decisions are made by the committee. Carroll only votes if the committee is deadlocked, which he tries to avoid, encouraging the committee to work it out. He then presents the decisions to the senate.

Carroll said the greatest part about being finance director for him is being able to impact and touch so many things and help people out.

“I think my most favorite is those times when a group needed something and you were able to help them through it,” he said.

Mary McBirnie, secretary for the dean of students office and GSB office manager, has been with GSB since 1990 and has seen a few finance directors come and go. She said she thinks Carroll is one of the best.

“There’s three out of all those years that I think were really exceptional and I think he’s one of them,” she said.

GSB President and senior in political science Emily Jensen said Carroll is a hard worker and gets his job done.

“Working with Jason is a lot of fun,” Jensen said. “He does a good job of keeping things on topic, but also keeping it light-hearted so that nothing gets too serious.”

Charles Everson, senior in mechanical engineering and at-large member of the finance committee, has known Carroll since he joined the finance committee a year and a half ago.

Everson described Carroll as a very organized, nice guy and said that making sure things go right is important to Carroll. He added that Carroll is extremely knowledgeable about his position and runs meetings very effectively.

“In meetings, everything goes by the book pretty much. I mean we joke around and stuff like that, but nothing is ever out of order,” he said.

Although Carroll will not be returning as finance director next year, Jensen said she thinks he will still provide leadership and help to next year’s finance director.

“I think that whoever is finance director next year will have big shoes to fill,” she said.