Vice President, Strategic Finance

Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in growing mid-sized urban communities across the U.S. With a focus on people and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. Through its subsidiaries, Ardent delivers care through a system of 30 acute care hospitals, 24,000+ team members and more than 280 sites of care with over 1,800 affiliated providers across six states.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Vice President of Strategic Finance is a senior, enterprise-facing finance leader who serves as a strategic thought partner to the CEO, CFO, COO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership team. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of FP&A, this role is designed to accelerate equity value creation by advising on strategy, sharpening financial insights, strengthening capital allocation discipline, and translating complex strategic initiatives into clear financial narratives and action plans.

This is a highly dynamic, cross-functional role that operates at the intersection of strategy, finance, operations, and capital markets. The VP of Strategic Finance will lead advanced financial analysis and long-range planning, support M&A evaluation and underwriting, enhance board and investor narratives, and establish greater accountability around major capital investments. Initially a hands-on individual contributor, the role is expected to evolve into a player‑coach with a small, high‑caliber team over time.

• Advises senior leadership on equity value, capital structure, and long‑term financial strategy.
• Shapes enterprise financial strategy to optimize risk‑adjusted returns while supporting mission‑critical patient care.
• Evaluates strategic alternatives through a shareholder‑value and capital‑allocation lens.
• Owns financial underwriting, valuation modeling, and investment theses for M&A and strategic investments.
• Develops rigorous financial models covering returns, leverage, cash flow, and value creation.
• Partners with Corporate Development to lead or support diligence and execution of transactions.
• Establishes and manages post‑investment ROI frameworks, including hindsight and accountability reviews.
• Leads analytical support for capital markets decisions, including debt, refinancing, and capital deployment.
• Maintains and enhances the enterprise long‑range financial model, integrating P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, leverage, and valuation.
• Uses the long‑range plan to assess new initiatives, investments, and environmental changes.
• Drives high‑quality financial communication board materials, investor messaging, and executive‑level insights.
• Builds and leads a high‑performing finance team while fostering analytical rigor and collaborative problem‑solving.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• 8+ years experience in finance, banking, private equity or related area.
• Experience operating in complex, fast-moving environments with multiple senior stakeholders.
• Proven track record of advanced financial modeling at an enterprise or transaction level.
• Expert-level financial modeling capabilities across operating models, scenario planning and sensitivity analyses, M&A underwriting, capital markets, financial forecasting, and valuation.
• Expert communicator who can distill complex analyses into crisp, executive‑ready PowerPoint materials, pairing clear narratives with informative visuals
• Must be comfortable communicating through presentations rather than walking stakeholders through Excel models, and adept at elevating analysis to the appropriate level for senior leadership and board audiences.
• Strong understanding of capital allocation, leverage, and equity value drivers.
• Ability to quickly structure ambiguous problems and translate strategy into actionable financial frameworks.
• Exceptional attention to detail and a high quality of work standard.
• Executive presence with the ability to communicate clearly, objectively, and unemotionally at the C-suite and board level.
• Highly personable and collaborative; effective working elbow‑to‑elbow with cross-functional partners through complex challenges.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity and limited direction, with the judgment to independently drive workstreams forward.
• Willingness and ability to challenge senior leaders constructively, grounded in facts and financial discipline.
• Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple complex initiatives in parallel.
• Demonstrated integrity, sound judgment, and discretion when handling sensitive and confidential information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior healthcare experience.

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