Chief Financial Officer

Overview

Chief Financial Officer

About Alverno College
Alverno College is deeply rooted in the Milwaukee community it calls home. At Alverno, you'll find a community that inspires, challenges, and supports its students throughout their academic journey. Founded in 1887, Alverno College ("Alverno") is a four-year independent Catholic liberal arts college for women sponsored by the School Sisters of St. Francis, and Wisconsin's first Hispanic-Serving Institution. The College also offers a robust array of graduate and degree completion programs for women and men.

For more than 130 years, Alverno has been transforming lives with a powerful combination of liberal arts education and career preparation with an innovative and empowering educational model that includes non-graded assessment and an abilities-based approach to teaching and learning which has been studied by colleges and universities around the world. With more than 17,000 alums worldwide, Alverno prepares undergraduate women and graduate women and men for lives of personal and professional distinction and meaningful engagement with the world.

Alverno purposefully fosters an inclusive community based on our Catholic and Franciscan values that engages students in active and collaborative learning and fosters academic excellence. Alverno's mission and vision creates an organization that attracts purpose-driven students, faculty, staff, and professionals. The College enrolls approximately 525 undergraduates and 528 graduate students in its 29 majors and 19 graduate programs. There are 196 full-time employees (40 full-time faculty and 153 full-time staff) plus 20 part-time/temporary staff, 195 adjunct faculty members and 100 student employees.

The operating budget for Alverno is approximately $35 million and the College's assets total $88 million.

The Opportunity
Alverno College is seeking a Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Administration (CFO/VP) who will be a strategic leader with a proven track record of financial management and business acumen. This executive role requires a talented, collaborative individual who can oversee Alverno's financial operations, drive fiscal strategy, and support the administrative functions that are critical to the College's success.

This leader will bring a blend of technical competence, astute financial judgement, and disciplined execution to the table, ensuring that Alverno's financial systems, practices, and procedures are robust, yet agile enough to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving higher education landscape.

Building upon a solid financial foundation and positive momentum, the CFO/VP will lead, develop, and manage a team of professionals including the Controller, the Director of Human Resources, the Facilities Manager, and their respective teams. In addition, the CFO/VP will oversee the wholly outsourced Information Technology function, including the Chief Information Technology Officer assigned to the College from our external technology partner.

The CFO/VP and team will coordinate and oversee the financial functions of the College and work collaboratively with important partners including the cabinet members leading the Advancement Office, Academic Affairs, and Enrollment Services/Financial Aid. As staff liaison to the Finance and Audit committee of the Board of Trustees and an effective partner to the President, the CFO/VP will be committed to excellence, consistently providing strategic leadership and judgment using tools that ensure strong and effective governance.

In addition, they will interpret and effectively communicate to the College leadership, board, faculty, and staff complex financial information and translate it into clear implications for the institutional strategies needed to ensure the future success of Alverno.

In addition, strong candidates will offer:

• Ten or more years of progressive finance experience and management oversight.

• Previous experience in higher education administration, preferably in a private college environment.

• Sensitivity for and understanding of academic disciplines and issues preferred.

• Experience applying accounting/finance…