Chief Financial Officer

Executive Search Brief

Chief Financial Officer

Reports to:

CEO & Executive Director

Direct Reports:
Controller, Accounts Specialist

Lafayette Industries is a mission-driven organization committed to creating meaningful employment opportunities and community engagement for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization operates within a complex financial ecosystem that includes government and private grants, service contracts, and a sizable earned-revenue business. Sustained mission impact depends on strong financial stewardship, disciplined operational management, and thoughtful long-term planning.

Financial leadership at Lafayette Industries is both strategic and deeply operational. The organization’s financial model requires balancing mission priorities with business realities, compliance requirements, and risk management across multiple funding streams.

Approximately 50% of Lafayette Industries’ revenue is generated through a contract packaging and light manufacturing business that serves external customers. This operation functions in a manufacturing-like environment characterized by:

• Variable production volumes and customer demand
• Customer-specific pricing models and contractual terms
• Tight margins and sensitivity to labor and material costs
• Inventory management and working capital demands
• Labor-intensive workflows aligned with mission-based employment goals

Financial leadership for this business requires a high level of integration between finance and operations. The CFO must ensure accurate cost accounting, disciplined pricing and margin analysis, informed capacity planning, and cash‑flow stability, while supporting a workforce model that prioritizes mission employment outcomes.

The CFO is a key member of the executive leadership team and serves as the organization’s senior financial strategist. The CFO is responsible for ensuring long‑term financial sustainability, providing strategic counsel to the CEO and Board of Directors, and overseeing all financial operations, compliance, and controls, capital budget development oversight and management. Procurement oversight focused on recurring contracts and supply chain continuity.

Overseeing accounts receivable and ensuring timely collection of contract, grant, and fee‑for‑service billings.

This role blends executive‑level strategic leadership with hands‑on operational oversight. The CFO must be equally comfortable advising the Board on long‑range financial strategy and engaging directly with day‑to‑day financial and operational realities—particularly within the contract packaging business.

The CFO is expected to:

• Serve as a trusted strategic partner to the CEO and Board, particularly the Finance Committee.
• Lead long‑range financial planning, forecasting, and scenario modeling to support sustainability, growth, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure financial decision‑making is fully aligned with mission priorities and operational realities.
• Strengthen financial infrastructure, internal controls, and reporting practices to support organizational resilience and transparency.

• Oversee financial strategy for a labor‑intensive, earned‑revenue business with fluctuating volumes and narrow margins.
• Develop and refine cost‑accounting methodologies to accurately allocate labor, overhead, and materials.
• Partner closely with operations leadership to evaluate pricing, profitability, capacity utilization, and contract performance.
• Monitor and analyze key operational performance indicators such as cost per unit, labor efficiency, contribution margin, and inventory turnover.
• Translate operational and financial data into actionable insights that inform strategic and operational decisions.

• Develop and oversee multi‑year financial forecasts, annual budgets, and financial models.
• Advise executive leadership and the Board on the financial implications of strategic initiatives, operational changes, and growth opportunities.
• Evaluate cost structures,…