Chief Financial Officer

Job Description

Chief Financial Officer

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West Carolina| Executive Leadership Opportunity

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Help Shape the Financial Future of a Growing, Innovative Broadband Cooperative

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West Carolina is seeking a strategic, growth-minded Chief Financial Officer to join its executive leadership team and help guide the Cooperative through its next chapter of growth, investment, and opportunity.

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This is not a traditional “keep the books and report the numbers” CFO position.

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West Carolina is looking for a financial leader who wants a seat at the table—someone who can translate financial information into strategy, challenge assumptions, identify opportunities, and work alongside the CEO, Board of Directors, and executive team to make smart decisions about where the Cooperative goes next.

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For the right leader, this is an opportunity to have a meaningful impact on a financially important, community-focused organization operating in an industry undergoing tremendous change.

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The Opportunity

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As CFO, you will serve as West Carolina’s senior financial executive and a trusted strategic partner to the CEO and Board. You will lead the Cooperative’s finance and accounting functions while helping shape decisions involving broadband investment, capital deployment, acquisitions, affiliated companies, financing, grants, operational efficiency, and long-term growth.

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You’ll be joining an organization that is innovative, adaptive, and driven — one that doesn’t settle for “good enough” and doesn’t stop until a problem is actually solved—and expects its officers to bring that same mindset to the leadership table.

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The CFO will:

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● Lead financial strategy, accounting, budgeting, forecasting, cash management, financial reporting, tax, internal controls, and enterprise financial risk.

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● Partner with the CEO and executive team on strategic planning, financial modeling, pricing, investments, contracts, and major business decisions.

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● Evaluate broadband infrastructure investments and develop business cases, return analyses, funding strategies, and long-range capital plans.

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● Lead financial due diligence, valuation, and integration planning for acquisitions and other growth opportunities.

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● Oversee liquidity, debt, lender relationships, loan covenants, audits, and regulatory financial requirements.

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● Provide financial oversight for federal and state broadband funding and grant programs, including reporting, reimbursement, controls, and audit readiness.

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● Direct financial reporting and controls across West Carolina’s affiliated organizations.

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● Oversee cooperative patronage capital, member equity accounting, and related financial responsibilities.

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● Serve as executive sponsor for the Cooperative’s NISC enterprise billing and ERP platform, leveraging systems, financial data, and technology to drive greater efficiency across the organization.

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● Champion the use of AI and forward-looking technology across Finance and the organization—not just adopting it, but driving it, so West Carolina sets the standard for what a cooperative can be.

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● Build, mentor, and develop a strong finance and accounting team with an emphasis on accountability, cross-training, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

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● Present clear, actionable financial information to the CEO, Board of Directors, Audit Committee, lenders, auditors, and other stakeholders.

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More Than a Finance Leader

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The successful candidate will understand that great CFOs do more than report what happened.

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They help determine what should happen next.

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West Carolina is looking for someone who can see beyond the spreadsheet—an executive who understands the connection between financial discipline and business opportunity and who is comfortable asking the tough questions while helping the organization find a path forward.

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You may already be a CFO, or you may be an accomplished Controller, Vice President of Finance, or senior financial leader ready to step into a broader executive role. What matters most is your ability to combine strong financial fundamentals with strategic thinking, leadership, curiosity, and a desire to help grow the enterprise.

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What You’ll Bring

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Candidates should have a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field and at least eight years of progressive financial management experience, including three years in a senior financial leadership capacity.

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A CPA or CMA is strongly preferred, with other advanced financial credentials considered. An MBA or other advanced degree is a plus.

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Experience in rural telecommunications, broadband, utilities, cooperatives, infrastructure, or another regulated and capital-intensive industry is particularly valuable.

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Knowledge or experience involving USDA Rural Utilities Service requirements, FCC obligations, broadband funding programs, construction-related financial oversight, cooperative finance, NISC systems, or mergers and acquisitions would be advantageous.

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Just as important, West Carolina is looking for a leader who is collaborative, inquisitive, decisive, comfortable with change, and energized by growth, and who treats people—members and colleagues alike—like family, not line items.

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Why West Carolina?

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Because this is a place where the CFO can make a difference.

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West Carolina is a cooperative with a strong mission, an entrepreneurial mindset, multiple affiliated companies, and an appetite for pursuing opportunities that strengthen the organization and create long-term value for its members.

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The Cooperative’s compensation philosophy is simple: pay competitively, reward the value created for members, and support employees with a strong cooperative benefits package. Additionally, this position will have some geographic flexibility within a 90-mile radius of Abbeville, South Carolina. In-office expectations will be at least 50 percent the first 18 months with greater flexibility for hybrid work once you have your financial leadership well established for the cooperative.

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If you want to help an innovative broadband cooperative invest, grow, evolve, and build for the future, please reach out to Shirley Bloomfield, President of ShirleyConnected, LLC, at View email address on ziprecruiter.com.

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