Vice President of Finance - Sponsors for Educational Opportunity

About SEO

Since its inception in 1963, SEO’s mission has been to create a more equitable society by closing the academic and career opportunity gaps for motivated young people from underserved and/or historically excluded communities. For over 50 years, SEO has been an innovator in creating educational, mentorship, training, and professional development programs that maximize the full potential of our students. Our global alumni network of more than 19,000 is composed of accomplished and rising leaders in virtually every industry and represents the promise of our investment in today's SEO participants.

We are committed to creating an ecosystem of excellence, and that ecosystem starts with a passionate, impactful, people-first team that champions the same spirit of innovation, creativity, and change-making that we encourage from our participants. From transitioning to fully remote instruction to keep our High School Scholars on track through the height of a global pandemic, to scaling the size and footprint of our impact to serve more young people across the nation, SEO is seizing every opportunity to create a more equitable society. 

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and working closely with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and members of SEO’s Board of Directors, the VP of Finance (VP) will lead a Finance and Real Estate team of eight that will guide financial and space management, planning, and forecasting for the entire organization.

As a dynamic, versatile leader with a passion for our mission, the VP will help lead SEO through an exciting period of rapid growth. Having substantially increased annual revenues to more than $40 million over the past four years, and with even greater opportunities ahead for expanding our impact nationally, the VP will evolve SEO’s financial model and capabilities to capture new opportunities at scale and drive sustainable growth. The VP will bring an affinity for process design and engineering, workflow assessment, and optimization. As a member of and strategic advisor to our Executive Leadership Team, the VP will employ a partnership-driven, collaborative mindset, working with six main programs serving thousands of participants each year, and our Development, Communications, Information Technology, Executive Office, and People teams. 

Areas of Leadership:

Finance Strategy

• Work with the Executive Committee (CEO, CAO, EVP, and VP of Development) to establish a financial vision, and planning and forecasting processes Implement financial modeling tools to generate real-time insights into the health and performance of SEO’s financial portfolio across multiple revenue streams Report SEO’s financials, forecasts, and metrics to our CEO and Executive Leadership Team on a monthly basis Generate insights from financial data to support organizational decisions and provide consultative support to budget owners at every level of the organization  Work closely with the CAO and CEO to prepare presentations to the Board of Directors and Board Committees  Oversee and optimize short- and long-term budget planning and cost management in alignment with the strategic plan Partner with revenue-generating programs to optimize financial operating models Oversee cash and investment management, including working with the CAO and SEO’s Investment Committee to build SEO’s endowment

Finance Infrastructure

• Design and execute a strategy to ensure the Finance department is equipped with the right systems, structures, people, and partners to effectively deliver on the team and organizational goals  Ensure financial tools are operationalized in such a way to highlight meaningful insights and guide short- and long-term decision-making, including revenue forecasting and programming decisions Lead the annual audit and preparation and filing of all required tax forms and state registrations In partnership with the VP of IT, select, implement and enhance financial technology, and lead the change management process to ensure collective buy-in and maximize utilization and implementation of new systems and processes Oversee and monitor SEO’s insurance policies, space planning, and real estate leases 

Organizational & Team Leadership

• Serve on SEO’s Executive Leadership Team, which works together to design organizational policies and practices that strengthen SEO’s culture and help our team members to thrive Establish a strong partnership model for how teams will work with Finance, including setting regular touchpoints and monthly and quarterly reviews of financial data and projections Collaborate with and advise the CEO on key financial metrics and decisions and align around finance-related priorities and other key decisions including new business opportunities   Serve as a strategic advisor to Executive and senior leaders to help guide decision-making and influence the way financial goals are reflected in KPIs  Partner with the CAO to support the Audit, Finance and Investment Committees of the Board of Directors Serve as a thought partner to programming leadership as they expand their model, advising on strategic growth opportunities

Key Qualifications: 

• Mission & Values Alignment: Sincere interest in our mission to support historically excluded students to thrive in college and career; demonstrates a service leadership mindset; values diversity of thought, experience, and perspective, and centers intersectional equity and inclusivity in leadership  Expertise in Finance Strategy for Maturing Organizations: Significant experience leading the financial activities and developing the financial strategies, models and infrastructure for a scaling organization with multiple revenue streams, including oversight of audit preparation, financial presentation to boards, and experience designing financial plans and forecasts for both present and future state, and developing a financial strategy to achieve scale and sustainable growth Executive & Team Leadership: Experience serving as a senior leader of a complex organization, consulting and partnering with leadership team members and boards; practiced in setting vision and championing it vision to foster alignment towards goals.  Experienced and passionate team and culture builder with a  track record of building, supporting, and developing high-performing teams. Collaboration & Relationship Building: Demonstrates orientation toward collaboration and working with others to iterate; effective in working on cross-functional projects, striving to ensure all teams have the information they need to make good, data-driven decisions, and learn and improve at every opportunity. Adaptable & Solutions Oriented: Track record of thriving fast-paced scaling contexts which include aspects of ambiguity and requiring the ability to pivot when required 

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer – M/F/D/V. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment regardless of age, race, color, national origin, sex, religion, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected status.