Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

November 23rd, 2020
Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

  • Full Time
  • Senior Level
  • Applications have closed
Job Category: Administrative, Finance
Location: Manhattan
Job Sectors: Human Services
Salary Range:

STRIVE is a leading national workforce development solution for people who face the biggest obstacles to employment. Its proven model propels students into careers that lead to upward mobility and define the promise of the American Dream that has been inaccessible to so many for too long. Headquartered in East Harlem, New York, and since its founding in 1984, STRIVE has helped more than 75,000 graduates prepare for career success through employment programs geared toward those left behind in the economy, including adults, young adults, and those with a history in the justice system. STRIVE is dedicated to equity and justice through economic opportunity.

 

Over the past seven years, STRIVE has doubled its staff, tripled its budget, and quadrupled the number of people it serves each year—at consistently higher levels of performance and impact. STRIVE has also gained national recognition for its programs and its exceptional job placement rate of 70%.

 

Today, the need for STRIVE’s services is greater than ever, and the organization is at a pivotal point of growth. STRIVE is bringing its nationally recognized model to a new level in new cities across the country. This period of growth will be guided by three goals:

  • Elevate Programs through applying proven standards from STRIVE New York across all STRIVE sites and building more evidence-based practices.
  • Build Careers by aligning and enhancing credentials in industries with high demand and a path to a sustainable career.
  • Grow Impact by graduating 10,000 students over the next five years and opening the first ever STRIVE-operated sites outside of New York. STRIVE Atlanta will be launched in 2020

In March 2020, STRIVE adjusted programs to operate remotely, continuing to enroll students. They placed more than 100 graduates in living-wage jobs from March through May 2020, despite the greatest economic crisis of a generation. STRIVE is now in a process of revisioning its entire model in order to virtually serve more people and help create more opportunities for those who have historically struggled to access sustainable careers.

 

A recent campaign, STRIVE’s Hidden Heroes of the Frontline, features 1-minute videos of graduates keeping our communities safe and functioning during the pandemic:

 

Learn more about the STRIVE Difference in this 3-minute video and for more information on STRIVE, please visit https://strive.org/

 

The Opportunity

STRIVE is seeking a Chief Financial & Administrative Officer (CFAO) to join the team during this exciting time of growth. Reporting to the President & CEO, the Chief Financial & Administrative Officer is an active member of a passionate and driven Executive Leadership Team and plays a key role in helping STRIVE achieve its mission by providing strategic financial and operational leadership and setting up systems for growth across a range of internal teams and functions.

 

The Chief Financial & Administrative Officer is a skilled strategic financial professional and people developer who can work collaboratively with peers, direct reports, board members, auditors, external vendors, and internal stakeholders to manage key of functions for an ambitious and growing organization. The position requires a strategic, big-picture thinker who can balance long-term views with immediate needs and challenges. A passion for the purpose, a deeply collaborative approach to work, and comfort navigating a complex and evolving nonprofit organization are essential.

 

Strong candidates will offer the requisite strategy, finance, and administrative skills as well as a collegial, supportive, and engaging management style and the ability to manage change with tact and diplomacy.

 

Key Responsibilities

The Chief Financial & Administrative Officer provides strategic leadership and oversight of STRIVE’s financial and administrative functions and works in close collaboration with the Executive Leadership Team to steward and promote overall organizational effectiveness. Key areas of focus and responsibilities include:

 

Mission & Culture Alignment

  •  Fully embraces the mission of STRIVE and understands the full potential, power, and impact of helping people overcome challenges and create success for their selves, families, and communities
  • Leads by example, understanding that at times, empathy is an essential quality. With an eye consistently focused on the future, the CFAO will know how to best adapt STRIVE’s finance and administrative teams to its changing environment
  • Demonstrates excitement to be part of a team that is focused on identifying creative and strategic solutions.
  • The CFAO will be an individual of unquestioned integrity, ethics, and values, and someone who can be trusted without reservation

Executive Leadership

  •  Provides leadership and direction to a 10-person team made up of Finance, Human Resources, and Office Management and ensures each team is achieving operational excellence and advancing organizational goals. This includes leading STRIVE’s strategy for managing its office space in the COVID-19 environment, and ensuring that STRIVE remains resilient and flexible no matter what the future brings,
  •  Ensures all Finance and Administrative staff and services are aligned in support of strategic and programmatic directions. Leads teams through growth and change processes in an effective manner
  • Drives financial strategies and activities in support of STRIVE’s mission and goals. Works in close partnership with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on financial and operational planning, and provides regular updates, forecasting, reporting, and solutions
  • Advises the Executive Leadership Team and Board on the impact of long-range financial and organizational planning. Regularly works with the full Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee to develop and provide comprehensive presentations and reports
  • Partners with the Development team, STRIVE National VP, and STRIVE NY and Atlanta Executive Directors to ensure financial, operational, and compliance needs are understood, supported, and managed, particularly as the organization grows

Financial Leadership & Strategy

  •  Ensures timely and accurate budget modeling, analysis, and financial reporting for the Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors
  •  Sets a high bar for fiscal responsibility and controls. Stays on top of trends and models best practices in financial management, risk management, and compliance
  • Reviews Finance Department operations and makes recommendations for policy, system, and process improvements that support organizational needs and growth plans
  • Identifies and oversees the implementation of enhancements to internal and external reporting, including the creation of financial dashboards and reporting that allow for immediate and long-range analysis and planning
  • Oversees liquidity management, including banking relationships and credit line
  • Finance staff maintains financial record systems and processes in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and monitors the use of all funds
  • Ensures that:
  • Relevant information is compiled in financial statements, with accompanying disclosures, and presented to various internal and external stakeholders
  • Audits are completed on a timely basis, tax returns are filed, and required financial reports are submitted to regulators
  • Oversee implementation of a new Accounting system upgrade and migration

Administrative Leadership & Oversight

  •  Provides strategic guidance and oversight of STRIVE Human Resources plans and priorities. Oversees the work of the HR Director to ensure policies, plans, and processes are best in class and can scale to meet STRIVE’s needs as it grows. Partners with the HR Director and Executive Leadership Team to strengthen organizational culture and practices around talent development, performance management, and diversity equity and inclusion
  • Oversees the work of the Office Manager and partners with site Executive Directors to support the visioning, development, and maintenance of each STRIVE office location. Develops a road map to enable the smooth and streamlined planning and launch of future STRIVE sites
  • Provides strategic guidance and evaluation of internal technology infrastructure and systems. Works with external IT partners to identify and champion the development of IT systems and strategies to support STRIVE operations, productivity, and data security
  • Serves as primary liaison with external counsel regarding employment law, contracts, regulatory compliance, and other legal needs
  • Develops and implements enterprise risk management programs and inspires risk-aware thinking to enable STRIVE to run effectively, operate efficiently, and manage risk thoughtfully. Mitigates operational risks by maintaining internal controls, reviewing insurance coverages, and ensuring compliance with relevant internal policies as well as federal, state, and local regulations
  • Provides ultimate oversight over all procurement, contracts, and contracting processes

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal candidate possesses the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:

  •  Minimum of 15 years of senior leadership experience working across multiple functional areas such as Finance, HR, IT, and Facilities
  • Proven experience overseeing finances for a complex nonprofit organization and knowledge of GAAP
  • Ability to serve as an effective member of an executive team, collaborating with colleagues on visioning, strategy development, and execution geared toward helping the entire organization improve performance
  • Proven people manager with strong track record coaching, empowering, and developing staff and supporting a culture that is respectful, fast-paced, and mission-driven
  • Prior experience overseeing facilities management in a nonprofit organization, including navigating issues of safety and security
  • Experience identifying and implementing new systems, platforms, and processes that result in greater efficiency and innovation
  • Demonstrated knowledge of best practices employed in Finance, HR, and Office Operations
  • Excellent business acumen with the ability to comprehend programmatic activities and convey complex financial and technical information to people with varying levels of financial expertise
  • Strong written and oral communicator with excellent presentation and organizational skills
  • High standards of performance, eager to pursue ambitious goals, and works hard and smart to achieve them
  • Highly collaborative with excellent relationship-building skills
  • Exceptional customer service orientation and able to foster a resourceful, proactive, and results-oriented culture within and across teams
  • Highly flexible and adaptable with the ability to drive organizational change and build consensus internally and externally
  • Fully embraces the mission of STRIVE and understands the full potential, power, and impact of helping people build the skills that enable them to change their lives
  • Bachelor’s Degree in accounting, finance, or a related discipline; MBA or CPA preferred

Contact

Koya Leadership Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Molly Brennan and Shelby Woods are leading this search. To express your interest in this role, please click this link: https://talent-profile.koyapartners.com/search/3910 or email [email protected].  All nominations, inquiries, and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

 

STRIVE considers applicants for all positions without regard to race; color; religion; gender; national origin; age; sexual orientation; marital or veteran status; the presence of a medical condition, genetic information, or handicap, unrelated to performing the tasks of the job; or any other legally protected status.

 

About Koya Leadership Partners

Koya Leadership Partners, a member of the Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.

 

For more information about Koya Leadership Partners, visit http://www.koyapartners.com/.

 

STRIVE

  • 205 East 122nd Street, 3rd Floor
  • New York, NY 10035
  • Phone: