Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; SVP and CFO

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (SVP and CFO)

Reporting to the President and serving on the Senior Leadership team, the SVP and CFO is the University's Principal Financial Officer and holds ultimate accountability for the financial operations of the institution.

The CFO leads the Fiscal Services division of approximately 100 staff and works through the senior leaders of its units to deliver accounting and financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, treasury and debt, internal controls and compliance, purchasing and procurement, accounts payable, payroll, and student accounts. The CFO is accountable for the accuracy and timeliness of the university's financial data and the integrity of the financial statements provided to leadership, the Board of Visitors, and the Commonwealth.

The CFO sets standards and priorities for the division, maintains the university's system of internal controls, serves as the SLT lead for managing financial risk, and advises the President on the financial implications of institutional decisions.

KEY PRIORITIES FOR THE ROLE

President's Priority:
Professionalize the Financial Enterprise

In addition to the full scope of essential functions outlined later in this profile, the President has identified the following as immediate priorities for the incoming SVP and CFO:

• Board and State Ready Monthly Reporting:
  Responsible for accurate monthly reporting that rolls up to the Board of Visitors, the State, and the Commonwealth, including unit-level performance.
• P&L Like Framework for Fiscal Units:
  Establish a profit-and-loss (P&L) style framework for all fiscal units to accurately track how expenses are managed and funded at the unit level, structured so that it can roll up to the Board and State on a monthly cadence.

Responsibilities

Leadership Management

• Lead the Fiscal Services division of approximately 100 staff through its unit leaders, setting direction, priorities, and performance expectations;
• Hire, develop, coach, and evaluate direct reports, and build leadership depth, employee engagement, and succession across the division;
• Establish service standards, performance measures, and accountability across the division, and oversee the schedule for close, reporting, audit, and budget cycles;
• Allocate staffing and resources across units, and foster collaboration within the division and with partners across the university;
• Present the university's financial statements and monthly financial reports to the Board of Visitors and its committees, ensuring monthly reporting rolls up into board submissions, and respond to questions on the financial results; and
• Provide financial reporting to the President and the Senior Leadership Team in order to ensure efficiency and fiscal accountability across the university, and represent the university to Commonwealth agencies and on state and legislative reporting requests.

Fiscal Oversight

• Accounting and Financial Reporting:
  Own the monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial close, and take direct responsibility for the accuracy and timeliness of the university's financial statements, delivered through the Controller's Office;
• Oversee accounting operations and banking, the general ledger and chart of accounts, interface with the Commonwealth's accounting system, and account reconciliations across all funds;
• Ensure compliance with GASB and governmental and fund accounting standards, and the production of the annual financial statements and supporting schedules for leadership, Commonwealth, federal, and sponsor reporting;
• Oversee fixed assets, international tax, payroll, and cost accounting, including Facilities and Administrative and fringe benefit rates; and
• Build business processes and reporting tools for financial tracking, predictive analytics, and data mining that strengthen decision support across the division.

• Budget Development and Execution:
  Direct the development of annual operating and capital budgets, the biennial State budget submission, and the allocation and reconciliation of unit budgets under the budget model;
• Establish and lead a budget management rollup across the university to include academic and non-academic units, oversee budget-to-actual execution, variance analysis, and forecast updates during the year, and review results with university leadership; and
• Ensure position control and salary and benefit funding are managed, and maintain the multi-year integrated financial plan.

• Treasury, Cash, and Debt:
  Oversee cash management, liquidity, banking relationships, bank reconciliations, and the investment of university funds;
• Hold accountability for debt management, debt service, covenant compliance, continuing disclosure, arbitrage, and for accurate debt schedules and reporting; and
• Oversee capital project funding and reconciliation of capital spending against approved plans and the six-year Capital Plan.

Strategy and Compliance

• Audit, Internal Controls, and Compliance:
  Serve as the senior point of accountability for the annual external audit,…