Vice President for Finance

The next Vice President for Finance should be skilled at strategically aligning resources with priorities, financial analysis, and modeling, and assessing current and future trends in higher education. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to make major contributions to the continued success of Lake Forest College in areas such as budget modeling/forecasting, improving processes and procedures, fostering innovation, construction projects, and space allocation. As a leader on campus, this individual must be a collaborative and collegial team player with the ability to communicate complex financial information and decisions across a wide range of constituents and audiences.

The VPF will:

• Develop and execute procedures for multi-year financial forecasting and budget planning in partnership with the President and Senior Leadership Team.
• Oversee daily treasury functions of the College including cash management, short-term investments, endowment investments, short-term borrowing, and long-term debt.
• Oversee risk management activities for the College and seek to minimize risks through maintenance, planning, replacement, and insurance.
• Oversee relevant service contracts.
• Facilitate revenue generating opportunities in partnership with other Vice Presidents • Provide day-to-day management and leadership for the areas of accounting, budget, business services, human resources, Title IX, and student financial services.
• Oversee the annual College audit process.
• Remain current and knowledgeable in industry standards, trends, and emerging practices to position the College at the leading edge of higher education finance and management.
• Provide sophisticated modeling and data analytic skills for budget development and support for recommendations for tuition and fees, financial aid discounting, and debt financing strategies.
• Develop timely reporting systems and processes to assure that the President and College Leadership Team are fully informed of the financial impacts of decisions.
• Maintain and advocate the highest level of professionalism, stewardship, compliance, integrity, and transparency in all areas.
• Design and direct the implementation of the College’s capital financing strategies to support facilities needs on campus.
• Bring an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit especially as it relates to financial and capital needs.
• Work closely with Human Resources to ensure compliance with relevant College policies and government regulations, labor-related financial matters, and risk management.
• Provide leadership for employee committees (budget as well as compensation and benefits).
• Serve as the College liaison to the Board of Trustees’ Financial Stewardship Committee providing them with appropriate data and best practices in higher education finance management.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Build a climate of trust, transparency, and openness by working collaboratively and communicating frequently with faculty and staff, with deans, and with executive leaders.
• Cultivate positive working relationships across the College to promote a climate of customer service, innovation, and student-centered practices and services.
• Provide accountability, professional development for all employees and mentoring for all direct reports. Enhance cultural diversity, inclusivity, and well-being for professional staff.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Expertise in Financial and Accounting procedures.
• Successful and progressive professional and leadership experience suitable for appointment at the vice-presidential level.

Preferred qualifications

• Higher education or non-profit experience.
• Experience overseeing facilities, human resources and/or Title IX.
• Master’s Degree in a related field and/or CPA preferred.
• Experience supervising staff and building successful teams.
• Administrative experience with budgeting and financial planning in an environment of limited resources.

Salary range

• The anticipated salary range for the Vice President for Finance is $190,000-220,000.