Chief Financial Officer

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:55:00 GMT

Union Theological Seminary seeks to appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to be a member of the President's three person staff, reporting directly to the President, who will oversee both the daily and long-range financial and operational dimensions of the school.

Union Theological Seminary, founded in 1836 in New York City, is the oldest independent, multi-denominational seminary in the nation and one of the preeminent institutions of Christian theological education. Union’s mission is at once progressive and faith-based: to educate leaders for ministry in churches and society, to extend the work of social justice, and to enrich the academy through teaching and research in a multi-faith, pluralist environment. The Seminary’s reputation attracts accomplished and influential scholars to its faculty, and draws as students those of the highest academic ability and achievement from around the world. Union has nurtured many of the most significant theological voices addressing the most profoundly challenging issues of our contemporary experience: civil rights, women’s equality, human rights, and care for the earth. Union is presently undertaking a strategic planning process designed to expand the school’s scope of endeavors and to explore new directions both academically and administratively.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) plays a key role in almost every aspect of the school’s life. The CFO is responsible for all financial functions including accounting, financial planning & analysis, budget preparation and management, treasury activities such as cash management and endowment monitoring, gifts management, student-aid management, and all bursary activities. Acting as Chief Operating Officer, the CFO will oversee information technology, facilities management, space rentals, student and faculty housing, human resources, and risk management. The CFO will also manage all auxiliary business enterprises including a small hotel, a food service, and several leases. In all of these areas, the CFO must be able to effectively engage every day basic accounting tasks while also being a creative “big picture” thinker.

In addition to these responsibilities, the CFO will play an important role in the creation and implementation of the school’s new strategic plan. The plan will involve substantial organizational change and potentially a radical reconstruction of the school’s business model. This will require developing new procedures and policies as well as developing a new educational culture that must have strong buy in from the school’s complex, diverse constituents. Someone with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a lively imagination, a commitment to public service, and excellent people skills will find this job truly enlivening. He/she will be responsible for working closely with the President, senior management and the Board of Trustees to envision and implement financial dimensions of emerging strategic planning; managing diverse constituencies in an environment that requires a great deal of consensus building; oversee and collaborate with sister schools on shared administration functions.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Undergraduate or graduate degree (preferred) with focus in finance, accounting, and general management with 15+ years of experience in public, private, and/or not-for-profit sector with management responsibility. Work experience in higher education preferred, experience in management of accounting, information systems and employee benefits and facilities management with a record of success and achievement, preferably with successful organizations, a career track of increasing responsibility and promotions, specific experience in tax, audit, general accounting, cost accounting, management reporting, compliance, payroll and related fields. Ability to quickly learn and use a complex integrated educational software program.

Salary: Commensurate with experience and market conditions

Interested applicants, please send resume with cover letter: Union Theological Seminary, Attn: Human Resources, 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027; e-mail: mhung@uts.columbia.edu.

Staff Positions

Chief Financial Officer