GUILDERLAND — Andrew Van Alstyne spoke like the professor he once was at Tuesday’s Guilderland School Board meeting, presenting a primer on school budget finances.

It was Van Alstyne’s first meeting as the district’s assistant superintendent for business. He started work on Jan. 3, replacing Neil Sanders, who had held the post for 18 years.

“I’ve always been interested in understanding how everything works,” Van Alstyne told The Enterprise.

He grew up in the area, first in Schenectady and then spent his middle and high school years in Burnt Hills. His father was a videographer for Channel 6 and his late mother was a physical therapist. In high school, Van Alstyne liked both English and math, and a favorite course was college-level history.

He went to St. Lawrence University where he majored in both English and sociology. “I love English,” he said, because he likes reading to understand things.

“Understanding drives everything I do,” Van Alstyne said. His current reading is as varied as the subjects he studied in school, ranging from science fiction and fantasy to history.

After college, Van Alstyne chose sociology for further study because he likes “understanding how people and systems work together.”

He earned both a master’s degree and a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After that, he was an assistant professor for three years at Southern Utah University, a public university in Cedar City, Utah.

Van Alstyne describes the area as “gorgeous” and the students there as “dedicated.” A lot of his students were the first in their family to go to college and so “education was meaningful” for them, he said.

Van Alstyne left academia because he wanted to do work that had a direct impact on people’s lives. He worked for six years at the Association of School Business Officials of New York and was the director of Education and Research when he left.

In addition to doing analyses on education finance, Van Alstyne worked to support members across the state. During the pandemic, he saw what those members had to do to meet the needs that their students and communities faced.

“I found it seriously inspiring,” said Van Alstyne.

So he decided to enter the trenches himself and, in 2022, he started looking for a school district administrative post. “Guilderland checked every box,” Van Alstyne said, citing the “committed leadership” and “great schools.”

As he went through the interview process, Van Alstyne said, he found every stakeholder was dedicated to “kids coming first.”

His goal right now, Van Alstyne said, is to continue Guilderland’s excellence in handling the district’s two most precious resources — kids and finances.

He and his wife, Liz, have three children of their own: Shayla, 16; Lucy, 13; and Julia, 7. Their daughters attend Niskayuna schools where the family has lived since 2017.

“When I’m not working, I’m with my daughters,” Van Alstyne said.

He has been working double time since he was tapped for the Guilderland job several months ago. On Oct. 11, Van Alstyne was named to a probationary position as assistant superintendent of business for a four-year term with an annual salary of $145,000 for the 12-month job.

For the last two months of 2022, as Van Alstyne continued to work for the Association of School Business Officials, he also worked part-time with Sanders at Guilderland.

Van Alstyne said he’d be “filling big shoes” and “learned a lot from Neil.”

Superintendent Marie Wiles told The Enterprise this week that she had been worried about finding someone with the experience and disposition of Sanders. “These positions are tremendously difficult to fill,” she said.

So the district posted the opening in July, six months before Sanders would be leaving; 13 candidates applied. The process involved three rounds of interviews, with a committee of 20 stakeholders — faculty staff, students, parents, and board members — weighing in.

Part of the process was having applicants make a presentation that they might actually make to the board and community — Van Alstyne’s was the very presentation he made at the Jan. 10 board meeting on the district’s fund balance and reserves.

“From beginning to end … Andrew was just a standout candidate,” said Wiles. “So we’re very fortunate … We’re feeling like we hit the jackpot.”

Van Alstyne, in turn, has been struck by the warmth of everyone he has met — students, teachers, board members, and administrators, he said.

“Everyone seems on the same page …,” he concluded. “The future is bright for Guilderland.”