Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Princeton Theological Seminary
Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer


Princeton Theological Seminary invites applications and nominations for the appointment of Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The CFO reports to the Seminary President and is the member of the executive team who is responsible for the fiscal health of the Seminary. Key opportunities for the new CFO include the following:

• Provide creative, strategic, and transparent leader that promotes excellence within the finance operation and across campus.
• Strengthen leadership and provides direction to the staff, while motivating and inspiring the team to reach beyond traditional responsibilities and ways of thinking to establish and reach new goals for the department.
• Build strategies to steward the operational use of the Seminary's substantial assets, providing financial and budgetary oversight.
• Develop partnerships across the campus by building business plans, strengthening management and statutory reporting, maintaining sound risk management and developing new revenue models.

This position will have a defining role in shaping the future of the Seminary in a period of growth and new direction.

Princeton Theological Seminary

Founded in 1812, Princeton Theological Seminary is a professional and graduate school related to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and stands within the Reformed tradition. Princeton Seminary is located on a beautiful, historic campus in the heart of Princeton, New Jersey. The expansive campus comprises more than 1.2 million square feet of space, including academic, administrative, and dormitory buildings on the central campus, the Charlotte Rachel Wilson apartments for students in nearby West Windsor Township, the Seminary's 21-acre farm where the Farminary is located, and more than 40 residential homes that house faculty is in close proximity to the campus. The campus includes cherished 19th-century buildings, which have won awards for historic preservation. The Seminary's first building, Alexander Hall (1815), remains in use. The Seminary recently finished a full renovation of the Brown Hall dormitory (1865) to update the rooms with private baths and expansive gathering space. The main classroom building, Stuart Hall (1876), also recently underwent complete exterior preservation to historic standards. The Seminary has more than 11,000 living alumni serving in ministries around the globe.

Mission & Vision

At a time when society is increasingly fragmented and polarized, Princeton Theological Seminary is committed to fostering community that holds us together in Jesus Christ. This learning community is formed by shared practices, guided by shared values, and enlivened by Christian faith.

Princeton Theological Seminary prepares people to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for service worldwide in all fields of human endeavor.

The Seminary provides a community of learning where a sense of calling is tested and defined, where scripture and the Christian tradition are appropriated critically, where faith and intellect mature and lifelong friendships begin, and where habits of discipleship are nourished.

Values

The Seminary's model of theological education is characterized by four distinctive commitments:

Reformed & Ecumenical

Princeton Seminary is a Presbyterian school in the Reformed tradition, an identity we embrace proudly and believe to be an essential source of wisdom and strength for our mission. At the same time, Princeton Seminary is an ecumenical, international, and intercultural community that holds Jesus Christ as the center of our life together.

Faith & Scholarship

True to its Reformed heritage, Princeton Seminary promotes academic excellence as a faithful expression of loving God. This community of learning nurtures intellectual curiosity and fosters theological research.

Residential & Global

A vital part of the learning experience takes place on the Seminary's beautiful campus located in one of the most intellectually vibrant towns in the country. Princeton Seminary sits between Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. But the learning community is not only confined to our Princeton campus. The world itself is our classroom, and students extend their learning in many locations throughout the globe with field education experiences, travel courses, and academic exchange programs.

Tradition & Innovation

The essence of the Reformed tradition is an impulse towards innovation: "the church once reformed always being reformed in accordance with the word of God." The Seminary is strengthening its core commitment to preparing pastors for parish ministry while providing room in the curriculum for new forms of Christian ministry and service to which our students feel called.

The President

Jonathan Lee Walton became president of Princeton Theological Seminary in 2023. Dr. Walton is trained as a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of evangelical Christianity, mass media, and political culture.

Prior to his appointment at Princeton Theological Seminary, he served as dean of Wake Forest University's School of Divinity where he occupied the Presidential Chair in Religion & Society, and as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University.

Dr. Walton has published widely across various academic journals, books, magazines, and newspapers. His insights have been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Time Magazine, and PBS.

Dr. Walton earned his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Divinity degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Academics
The Seminary's 36 full-time and 12 adjunct faculty maintain a strong tradition of preparing leaders for the church through a commitment to the constructive interaction of ministry formation and rigorous scholarship. The Seminary has a 9:1 student to faculty ratio. All full-time faculty members have academic doctorates and are members of a Christian denomination; 47% are ordained ministers. Faculty members regularly publish highly regarded, award-winning books and peer-reviewed articles in leading journals.

Master's Programs
Princeton Theological Seminary offers seven master's degree programs. Students will find diversity and experiential learning at the forefront of Princeton Seminary's new curriculum . Students are exposed to different theological voices and perspectives on campus and in the community. Coursework emphasizes the development of each individual student's spiritual life and goals, while preparing them with the leadership development and academic rigor essential for flourishing in the 21st century.

• Master of Divinity : a three-year program designed to prepare students for diverse ministries of congregational leadership, for graduate study in theology and related disciplines, and for various types of ministries
• Master of Theological Studies : a flexible two-year academic degree designed to equip graduates for a doctoral level program, teaching positions, or for various forms of specialized ministry
• Master of Arts in Theology and Ecology : a 13-month program, rooted in Princeton Theological Seminary's Farminary, that forms leaders for service by immersing students in a community of embodied theological reflection
• Master of Arts in Theology (Justice and Public Life) : a two-year part-time, hybrid degree program designed for working professionals who wish to lead social change toward justice
• Master of Arts in Christian Education and Formation : a two-year program emphasizing theory and practice for the ministry of education and formation for the church, which includes basic studies in Bible, theology, church history, and practical theology
• Dual Degree : a four-year MDiv/MACEF program designed for those who want to integrate preparation for ministry in the church with an emphasis in teaching, youth and young adult ministries, and spiritual formation and mission
• Master of Theology : an advanced theological degree designed for students who wish to deepen their preparation for ministry beyond the MDiv or MTS or who desire to prepare for specialized ministries of the church

The Seminary also offers a joint program leading to the Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Seminary and the Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers University's Graduate School of Social Work.

PhD Program
The PhD program of Princeton Theological Seminary forms scholars, servants, and leaders of the church and the academy through constructive, critical engagement with the Christian tradition in its complexity and diversity, and where appropriate, in conversation with other religious and intellectual traditions in their multiplicity and variety.Ordinarily, up to ten students are admitted each year to the doctoral program.

The PhD program nurtures excellence in research and writing, teaching, and academic citizenship. Princeton Theological Seminary has provided more faculty with doctoral degrees to schools accredited by The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) than any other institution of higher education.

Student Body and Community

In response to Christ's call for the unity of the church, the Seminary embraces in its life and work a rich racial and ethnic diversity and the breadth of communions represented in the worldwide church.

In the 2022-23 academic year, the Seminary has 323 enrolled students, representing 64 denominations and from 16 countries.

Top Denominations
• 28% PC(USA)
• 13% Non-denominational
• 4% ELCA
• 4% United Methodist Church
• 5% Episcopal Church
• 5% Baptist (United States)

Degree Programs
• 58% MDiv
• 16% PhD
• 9% MDiv/MACEF Dual Degree
• 11% MTS
• 6% ThM
• 1% MACEF

More than 85% of students live on campus, and most make their home in the student apartments at the Charlotte Rachel Wilson Campus (CRW). Completed in 2012, the CRW campus includes 200 apartments with lounges in each building, fitness areas, a community garden, playground, pavilion, outdoor grilling areas, and bike storage.

Finances

Unlike most institutions of higher education, the Seminary's operating budget is funded almost exclusively by the endowment. Currently, the Seminary's endowment is approximately $1.5 billion. These resources make possible generous scholarship and financial aid for students, and the strategic plan identifies an aspiration to reduce student debt. The endowment also supports faculty and the academic resources that facilitate teaching and research. The nature of the school as a freestanding institution allows a singular focus on service to the church. During the 2021 Fiscal Year the institution received $4,142,969.54 in total gifts. This includes restricted gifts as well as unrestricted and endowed gifts.

Operating Budget Revenues (July 1 2021-June 30, 2022) totaled $48,575,870
$35,813,223 Distribution from Endowment
$6,569,603 Tuition and Fees
$3,196,941 Auxiliary Enterprises
$1,637,848 Unrestricted Gifts and Grants
$1,358,255 Other Revenues

Budgeted Expenditures (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022)

$9,691,774 Instruction
$10,380,591 General and Administration
$8,511,931 Physical Plant
$7,172,102 Scholarship/Student Aid
$3,224,802 Library
$4,070,631 Student Services
$3,165,671 Technology
$2,313,542 Auxiliary Enterprises

The Vice President and CFO

The CFO has responsibility for stewarding the Seminary's financial assets and serves as an advisor to the President and to the Board of Trustees on matters of financial planning and stewardship, budgeting, resource allocation, risk management, and information technology. The CFO will manage the assets of the Seminary and maintain systems of internal controls to safeguard the physical, digital, and financial assets of the Seminary. They will work collaboratively with the President and executive leadership team to develop and execute a long-range financial and capital plan that maintains the fiscal health of the institution and serves strategic ends. The CFO will ensure accurate and timely financial reporting that enables short- and long-term financial decision-making, and they will play a key role in translating strategic ambitions into actionable financial and operational plans to enhance the Seminary's financial model and develop new revenue streams.

The CFO supports sound operational management of the Seminary. The CFO collaborates with and supports the Chief information Officer to develop, plan, and implement an information technology strategy that meets the Seminary's business needs, delivers effective solutions that improve efficiency and maintains utmost security.

Princeton Theological Seminary seeks in its new CFO a leader with vision, a collegial style, integrity, and the drive to inspire new levels of excellence. The successful candidate will possess both the skills and the passion to play a key role in helping the Seminary to realize the goals of its strategic plan. Candidates should have a strong understanding of, and passion for, the mission and values of the Seminary and how they are central to the campus community. The CFO should work closely and effectively with the academic community of the Seminary and support the faculty in carrying out the academic mission.

Candidates must have significant leadership and financial management experience in a senior administrative capacity, preferably in higher education or in a related entity; evidence of strong organizational, analytical, and supervisory skills, including the ability to elicit trust and confidence; demonstrated ability to build and lead effective, diverse management teams; experience with integrating financial and strategic planning; knowledge of best practices throughout all financial and administrative functions; strong listening skills and the ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and collegially with a diverse range of both internal and external stakeholders; ability to think creatively and strategically; and an understanding of the compelling mission, challenges, and opportunities for the Seminary. Preference will be given to those candidates with accounting experience and a CMA or CPA designation.

Applications and Nominations

Priority consideration will be given to materials received by June 20th, 2023. Applications should include a 1) current resume and 2) a letter of interest that addresses the responsibilities and qualifications described above.

Buffkin/Baker, an executive search firm, is assisting the Seminary in the search. Inquiries of interest, nominations, and applications should be submitted electronically, in confidence, to:

Mr. Martin M. Baker, Managing Partner
Dr. Pelema Ellis, Associate Partner
Buffkin / Baker
ptsemcfo@buffkinbaker.com

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