Vice President of Finance

Vice President of Finance

Lake Erie College, a small, co-educational, four-year, independent liberal arts college located in Painesville, OH, 30 miles east of Cleveland, invites applications for the full-time position of Vice President of Finance.

Dedicated to delivering high-quality higher education and community engagement, we are currently in a strategic turnaround phase and the Vice President of Finance will be a key driver of our financial stability and long-term sustainability. This is a mission-critical leadership role with significant accountability to our board of directors, bondholders, and external stakeholders. The Vice President of Finance will provide strategic leadership and oversight of LEC's financial operations and long-term fiscal health, leading all finance and accounting functions; financial planning and analysis; and reporting to bondholders and the board. This is a high-stakes assignment requiring a seasoned leader with experience in turnaround environments, complex debt and covenant reporting, and higher?education finance or comparable sector experience. The role will partner closely with the President and senior leadership team to build financial strength, enhance transparency, maintain robust financial controls, and support the institution's mission and growth.

Responsibilities:

• Leads the development, execution, monitoring, and communication of the annual operating budget, multi-year financial plan, and long-term capital model.
• Drives cash flow forecasting, scenario analysis, liquidity management, debt servicing, covenant compliance, and bond-holder reporting.
• Ensures timely and accurate financial statements, management reports, and dashboards for senior leadership, the board of directors, and external stakeholders (auditors, lenders, bondholders).
• Supervises all accounting operations, including general ledger, month-end/quarter-end/year-end close, accounts payable, accounts receivable, bursar, payroll, and related functions.
• Establishes and maintains robust internal controls, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance with GAAP, regulatory requirements, higher-education norms, and lender covenants.
• Partners with senior leadership to align financial and operational data, ensuring cost drivers are accurately reflected in financial plans and reporting while oversight resides with respective cabinet members.
• Serves as the finance liaison to the board of directors (particularly the audit/finance committee) and external auditors, bond counsel, and lenders; presents finance reports, explains variances, proposes corrective actions, and highlights risk areas.
• Leads or supports strategic initiatives that enhance revenue diversification, cost optimization, efficiency improvements, and long-term financial sustainability.
• Builds, develops, mentors, and manages a high-performing finance team, fostering accountability, transparency, continuous improvement, and professional growth.
• Ensures systems and data infrastructure provide timely, accurate reporting and analysis; drives improvements in financial systems, automation, KPIs, and business intelligence capabilities.
• Monitors higher-education sector and regulatory trends (e.g., tuition/aid dynamics, enrollment, state/federal funding, bond markets) and makes recommendations to the President and board to adapt strategy accordingly.
• Oversees institutional insurance programsincluding liability, property, cyber, D&O, and student-related policiesand ensures appropriate coverage levels, manages renewals, and collaborates with external brokers to mitigate institutional risk and control premium costs.

First 12-18 Months:

• Establishes and communicates a 3-5 year financial plan aligned with institutional strategy and board expectations.
• Demonstrates improvement in key financial metrics: e.g., cash flow, unrestricted reserves, debt service coverage ratio, cost per student, accounts receivable aging.
• Strengthens internal controls: reduces audit findings, improves timeliness and accuracy of financial close, improved forecasting accuracy.
• Enhances transparency and quality of information available to the board and bondholders, with regular, clear and actionable reporting.
• Continues to build the department team to support growth and stability, including refinement of roles, performance metrics, cross-training, and succession planning.
• Manages the institution through at least one bond/funding covenant review or audit cycle with favorable outcomes.

Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications & Key Competencies:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or related field required; MBA, MAcc, or CPA strongly preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive financial leadership experience in higher education, non-profit, private college, or similar environment, with at least 5 years in a senior finance executive role (e.g., CFO, VP Finance).
• Demonstrated experience in turnaround, restructuring, or complex debt/bond environments, including covenant management, bondholder reporting and lender relationships.
• Strong experience overseeing full finance function: accounting, budgeting, forecasting, payroll, AP/AR, bursar functions and audit.
• Deep knowledge of GAAP, not-for-profit accounting, federal/state regulations applicable to higher education, and financial controls.
• Exceptional analytical and strategic thinking skillsable to translate data into actionable insights, recommendations and plans.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present sophisticated financial information to non-financial stakeholders (board members, bondholders, lenders) in a clear, compelling manner.
• Proven leadership skills: building and developing healthy teams, driving change, working in a dynamic environment with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• High level of integrity, transparency, accountability, and professionalism.
• Experience with ERP/financial systems (e.g., Banner, Workday, Ellucian, Oracle/PeopleSoft) and advanced Excel/BI tools preferred.
• Commitment to the mission of LEC and an understanding of the higher-education landscape preferred.
• Strategic mindset combined with operational discipline.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and in turnaround settings and evolving institutional environments.
• Collaborative partnership orientation but also able to lead independently and influence across functions.
• Results-oriented, with a bias for action and measurable outcomes.
• Excellent interpersonal skillsable to build credibility and trust with internal and external stakeholders.
• High emotional intelligence, resilience, and ability to navigate challenging situations with tact and clarity.
• Growth and "doer" mindset and institutional teamwork ethic.
• Creative, strategic, thoughtful, and has a sense of humor.