Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Valparaiso University seeks an entrepreneurial and strategic leader with deep financial and administrative experience coupled with understanding of the academic enterprise to serve as its next vice president for finance and chief financial officer (CFO). The new CFO will be joining a vibrant and complex independent institution with a longstanding national reputation for academic excellence and innovation guided by its Lutheran mission and ethos. The freedom to pursue truth and to serve others unites and informs the university's academic and spiritual missions within a community that celebrates and embraces students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds and faiths.

Valparaiso University – or “Valpo” as the university is popularly known – offers more than 70 degree programs to 3,100 students engaged by more than 300 faculty in four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing and Health Professions and Business. Valpo also has a distinguished honors college, Christ College, and offers more than 25 degree and certificate programs in its Graduate School and Continuing Education program. Valpo provides its students with both a transformative liberal arts education and a wide array of professional programs that prepare them to lead and serve the needs of their communities, organizations and world. Valpo's academic environment has long been recognized as one of the finest in the Midwest by U.S. News and World Report and other publications; it was recently re-classified as a Carnegie national Doctoral/Professional University.

The incoming vice president for finance and chief financial officer will be a key advisor and thought partner to President José D. Padilla, who began his tenure at Valparaiso University in March 2021 as its nineteenth president. The CFO will play an integral role in the new university leadership team by actively collaborating with the president, provost and a creative and dedicated faculty, staff and student body in establishing Valpo's goals and aspirations in the form of a new strategic plan. The strategic plan will build on the university's foundation, which is rooted in the Lutheran tradition of scholarship, freedom and faith, and propel it forward to an exciting new chapter in its history. The vice president for finance and chief financial officer will build upon an understanding of private higher education funding trends and intricacies to assist the university in navigating its financial changes currently and into the future. Through the use of effective financial modeling tools and techniques, the vice president for finance and chief financial officer will develop and enact thoughtful and data-informed strategies and investments that will ultimately advance the strategic priorities of the university.

Valpo's new vice president for finance and chief financial officer will be a forward-thinking, engaging and transparent leader, ready to support a campus community that is eager to engage in strategy and operating decisions that impact the university's future. The vice president for finance and chief financial officer will also ensure a strategic and efficient budgeting process and devise and implement new revenue enhancement options. The CFO will possess the many key attributes necessary to lead the institution through change, including the ability to inspire and instill optimism and confidence; a dedication to and understanding of how financially to support and grow a strong core liberal arts curriculum integrated with high quality professional programs; a propensity for data-driven forecasting and decision making; and outstanding communication skills. Critical to the new CFO's success will be an entrepreneurial mindset, a record of progressive and successful leadership and management experience with a team-based approach to problem solving and execution.

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. For fullest consideration, candidate materials should be received by September 27, 2021. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in the profile, available at www.wittkieffer.com. For more information, questions or nominations, please contact the Valparaiso consultants Dennis Barden, Jen Meyers Pickard, Ph.D. and Ashlee Winters at ValpoCFO@wittkieffer.com. 

Valparaiso University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action employer. See https://www.valpo.edu/general-counsel/policies/equal-opportunity-policy/ for a detailed statement of its practices.