Executive Vice President and/or Chief Financial Officer

Company: Tri Cityherald
Location: Worcester
Posted on: November 18, 2024

Job Description:

Search for EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT and/or CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CLARK UNIVERSITY
WORCESTER, MA
THE SEARCH
Clark University seeks a collaborative, innovative, and proven leader to serve as Executive Vice President (EVP) and/or Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting to the president and serving as a key partner to him, the provost, senior colleagues, and trustees, the EVP will provide strategic financial counsel, ensure consistent excellence in execution of the University's financial affairs, and play a lead role in administrative management to help shape the vision and direction for this highly respected, small, private, liberal arts-based research university.
With an operating budget of $162 million and a $500 million endowment, Clark's current financial position is strong. At the same time, the University experienced lower than anticipated enrollments for fall 2024 and has for a few years run modest operating deficits. The University will launch its next comprehensive campaign with a current goal of $250 million in early 2026. As of today, fundraising progress (quiet phase) for this campaign is slightly ahead of schedule.
Strategic alignment and strong management of Clark's human, financial, and physical resources to support academic priorities and initiatives to enhance the student experience will be the overarching charge for the new EVP. This will require oversight and support of integrated long-range financial, operational, capital and facilities planning, and ensuring the University's capacity to recruit and retain high caliber faculty and staff. The EVP will also play an important role in supporting the University's ongoing work to advance a diverse and inclusive campus community and its unwavering commitment to and active engagement with the city of Worcester.
The EVP will lead careful stewardship and management of all of Clark's assets, overseeing budgeting and financial planning; business services; all controller and treasury functions; human resources; information technology, enterprise risk assessment and management; compliance, including Title IX; campus safety/police, and legal services; and will work closely with related committees of the board, including the investment committee in overseeing an outsourced investment management firm. The EVP's full portfolio could change as strategic priorities and organizational structures evolve, and in response to the strengths and interests of the selected candidate.
The EVP will be a gifted senior leader and manager with broad-gauged financial and administrative skills and extensive experience in several functional areas in the portfolio. The ideal candidate will bring at least ten years of progressively responsible experience and a track record of success leading in comparably complex higher education settings, ideally including a research element. Strong oral and written communication skills are essential. An MBA or other relevant advanced degree is strongly preferred.
Clark University has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in conducting this important search and to help identify outstanding candidates. All inquiries, applications, and nominations for this opportunity should be directed to the search firm as indicated below.
Contact:

• 
  
• Dan Rodas, Partner
  
• Amble Ryan, Senior Associate
  
• Rachel Banderob, Senior Search Coordinator
  
• Isaacson, Miller
  
  Application Link:
  Clark University embraces equal opportunity and affirmative action as core values: the University believes that cultivating an environment that embraces and promotes diversity is fundamental to the success of our students, its employees, and its community. This commitment applies to every aspect of education, services, and employment policies and practices at Clark. Clark's commitment to diversity informs its efforts in recruitment, hiring, and retention. All positions at Clark share in the responsibility for building a community that values diversity and the uniqueness of others by exhibiting integrity and respect in interacting with all members of the Clark community to create an atmosphere of fairness and belonging. Clark strongly encourages members from historically underrepresented communities, inclusive of all women, to apply.
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Keywords: Tri Cityherald, Arlington , Executive Vice President and/or Chief Financial Officer, Accounting, Auditing , Worcester, Massachusetts