Sara Baxter '90

Sara Baxter Hutcherson is the Chief Financial Officer of Gracenote, a Nielsen company, where she is responsible for driving growth, profitability, and operational efficiency during a period of rapid evolution across the media and entertainment landscape. A collaborative tech finance leader, Sara works closely with executive leadership to guide strategic decision-making, optimize commercial deal structures, and streamline system integrations. Known for cultivating cohesive, high-performing teams across diverse geographies, she focuses on bridging disciplined financial management with forward-looking business enablement. Her career is anchored by deep expertise in scaling financial infrastructure, optimizing capital allocation, and steering large-scale organizational transformations to ensure long-term corporate agility and market readiness.

Prior to her role at Gracenote, Sara served as CFO at SubCom, a global leader in subsea fiber-optic cable networks, where she focused on expanding the company's international infrastructure footprint while consistently delivering on topline revenue and EBITDA growth goals. Her foundational background includes a distinguished tenure at Verizon that culminated as CFO and Senior Vice President of the Verizon Business Group. Throughout her career, she has routinely led complex, multi-billion-dollar corporate integrations, managed sprawling, multi-geography P&Ls, and introduced innovative capital market programs—including playing an integral role in the industry's first wireless device asset-backed security framework. Beyond her executive responsibilities, Sara serves as a Trustee of the University of California San Diego Foundation and as a board member for Break Through Tech.

A dedicated alumna, Sara earned her B.A. in Economics in 1990 from UC San Diego and her MBA with an emphasis in accounting from National University. She earned her CPA in New Jersey. Sara was appointed to the UC San Diego Board of Trustees in 2025.