“I first set foot on the Fresno State campus in 2000, to participate in the second class of the Smittcamp Family Honors College,” he said. “New to Fresno State and this place I now call ‘home,’ I immediately immersed myself in everything the University had to offer.”

Over his time as a collegian, he served as president of five student organizations and actively participated in number of others. Most notably, he served as chair of the University Student Union Board of Directors. He also was president of Sigma Chi Fraternity and president of the Order of Omega Honor Society.

“Since college, I have continued to feed my passion for Fresno State in a variety of different ways,” Puccio said. “While professional life took me away from the Valley for the 10 years following my graduation, I always found ways to keep in touch.”

Fresno was never too far out of reach and he rarely missed home football games, returning to Fresno to be with friends and family on a consistent basis.

“My group of friends and I are avid Red Wavers, and we have followed the football team across the country,” he said. “From Madison, Wisconsin; to Baton Rouge, Louisiana; to Boise, Idaho; to Eugene, Oregon; to Lincoln, Nebraska — that’s just the start of an extensive list of places our group has traveled. You can find our group of 20 strong in the red seats on the west side of the stadium and an even larger group in the white lot before and after every game!”

Puccio’s father is the one who influenced him to go into the business world when he was an undergraduate student at Fresno State.

“My international travels have also had a great influence on my professional decisions moving forward in life,” he said. “Since graduating in 2005, I have held business operations and managerial roles with each having a complimentary international component.”

That wide spectrum of international business experience—spending time working in a foreign country and consulting with clients in different parts of the world—fully prepared him for his role at Fresno State.

“When I saw the job posted online in summer of 2014, I knew that the position would be a great fit for me,” he said. “It would allow me to come ‘home’ to Fresno and give back to a place that had given me so much. I’m still elated that I was selected to fill this role and that I get to serve the Fresno State community in this capacity every day.”

As the manager of Finance and Administration for the Division of Continuing and Global Education, Puccio is responsible the oversight and management of the Division’s accounting, finance and budget operations. He oversees day-to-day functions of the Division including marketing, student registration, information technology and more.

“As a self-support unit, Continuing and Global Education partners with the various schools, colleges and divisions on campus to provide academic programming throughout the calendar year,” he said. “With our role as a self-support entity, the revenues generated from our programming are reinvested to those entities and the University at the completion of each program or session.”

It is Puccio’s responsibility to distribute these funds back to the campus entities that the University partners with.

“At the end of the day, everything we do at Continuing and Global Education helps support state-side operations while providing access and opportunity to the community at-large,” he said.

Puccio feels that working with Accounting Services to implement a CASHNet storefront has been his most valuable accomplishment in his role at Fresno State.

“The storefront helps expedite registration and payment processes for non-credit workshops, programs and courses and has really been an improvement for non-Fresno State students and community members trying to gain access to our programming,” he said. “The storefront has helped grow participation in our non-credit offerings at the Fresno State Downtown Center and will be a cornerstone for non-credit offerings at the Visalia Campus and for our OSHER Life-Long Learning Institute moving forward.”

Away from campus, Puccio loves to travel – especially internationally.

“Since graduating from college, I have been to 25 different countries and have had a lot of great, transformative experiences along the way. Over my last couple years in Fresno, I have been able to travel to five different countries, so the journey continues.”

Puccio also enjoys traveling domestically. His group of friends typically travels to a different baseball stadium every summer and takes at least one big Fresno State road trip every year.

“I’m an avid sports fan and follow all Fresno State sports, the San Diego Chargers, San Diego Padres and Sacramento Kings very closely,” he said.

Puccio's friends and family in Fresno mean a lot to him.

“My group of friends from college has remained tightly knit over the years and to be back here in Fresno with them means the world to me,” he said. “There’s always something to do with my friends here in Fresno and I’m always keeping myself busy.”

Passionate about making Fresno a better place, Puccio was a member of Leadership Fresno Class XXXII, through the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce and is involved with a number of community organizations.

Although not married yet, now that he’s back in Fresno, Puccio thinks it would be great to really settle down. But he will always enjoy travel.

“I traveled much and even spent time working abroad in Mexico,” he said. “The emphasis of my master’s degree was in International Business and just about every position I’ve held has had some kind of international component tied to it. Prior to becoming manager of Finance and Administration for the Division of Continuing and Global Education here at Fresno State, I served in similar roles in private industry. I held positions such as business operations manager, business services manager and business development specialist, all for larger, publicly traded companies. I lived in San Diego and the Bay Area before finally returning back to Fresno in 2014.”

Puccio holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Fresno State and an M.S. in Business Administration from San Diego State.