After 16 months without permanent leadership, UApresents appointed its new permanent director yesterday.

Natalie Bohnet, the interim executive director since September, was named as the permanent executive director by Saundra Taylor, senior vice president of Campus Life, according to a press release.

Will Seberger, UApresents spokesman, said Taylor began a national search for a permanent director 16 months ago when Ken Foster, the previous director, left.

"It was quite an in-depth search," said Seberger, a studio arts senior.

Bohnet, a 52-year-old Australia native, said her nine years working with UApresents has prepared her to take on the tough times that lay ahead.

Seberger said UApresents has a current deficit of about $475,000, a figure he said he expects to increase to $800,000 by the year's end.

"This year, we will suffer another significant loss (of money)," Bohnet said. "But I'm confident the program I've planned for next year will bring surplus funds that will begin the process of eradicating the deficit, something that will take four or five years."

Even though the position title appears similar, Bohnet said being the permanent director will relieve her of many responsibilities she had as finance director.

"I will focus more on fundraising and cultivating relationships with the university colleges and arts organizations in the Tucson community," said Bohnet, a business administration graduate student.

Bohnet, who has lived in Tucson for 30 years, said she came to Tucson because her now ex-husband was a mining engineer who worked in a mine near Tucson.

Bohnet received a degree in accounting from the UA in 1988 after returning to school as a single mother with three children. She will graduate with her MBA from the Eller College of Management in August, she said.