Collegiate School
Chief Financial and Operating Officer
Deerfield Associates has been retained by Collegiate School, located in New York City, to conduct a national search for a Chief Financial and Operating Officer.
Collegiate School
Collegiate is a K-12 independent boys’ school, led by Head of School Bodie Brizendine, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We are a small school of 666 students housed in one building, giving us a unique sense of community and camaraderie. Students travel through 3 divisions, Lower (K-4), Middle (5-8) and Upper (9-12). Our student/teacher ratio is 6:1, with over 76% of our faculty having advanced degrees, allowing for close relationships and excellent, engaging teaching. The total number of school employees includes 160 full time plus 50+ part-time coaches, after school instructors. Our school was founded in 1628. Over the years it has moved around the city, with our last location of over 125 years being at 77th Street and Broadway. We moved into our new facility at 301 Freedom Place South and 61st Street in 2018. Our building, designed and built exclusively for our use, provides students with state-of-the-art classrooms, a 40,000-book library, two gymnasiums, a full theater and a blackbox, along with two outdoor spaces. All our work is driven by our statement of beliefs and our values. We believe that we are at our best when all members of the school community conduct themselves with respect, kindness, and integrity. We believe that the traditions and values of this old but not old-fashioned school can inspire boys to develop their individual capacities for personal and academic excellence. We believe that boys learn best when they are members of a diverse and just community that fosters purposeful and spirited engagement, inquiry, and collaboration in academics, athletics, and the arts. We believe that a liberal arts education committed to diligent and discerning scholarship prepares students to be citizens who act with conscience, courage, and compassion. The school’s financial profile includes an annual operating budget (2023) $45M, an endowment of $75M and $5.6M in financial aid being awarded in 2023.
Chief Financial and Operating Officer
Collegiate School seeks a dynamic and experienced financial and business leader with superb financial, strategic and operational skills and abilities to fill the key position of Chief Financial and Operating Officer. The new hire reports directly to the Head of School and is a member of the senior administrative team. The CFOO works in close and regular collaboration with the Head of School and other members of the senior administrative team to ensure adequate resources–human, financial, and operational–are available to support the excellence of the program and its people, by providing strategic direction and overseeing all matters related to finance, budget, facilities, legal affairs, risk management, and related policies and procedures. Direct reports to the CFOO include members of the Business Office (controller, accounts payable, accounts receivables, and payroll), the Director of Facilities, Director of Human Resources, Director of Technology, Director of Food Services, outside vendors (e.g. general contractors, security staff, etc.), and an administrative assistant.
This opportunity is available immediately, and will be filled following a comprehensive national search, and when the candidate of choice is identified and selected. The most likely start date will be early Fall 2024, though interested individuals who are not able to start until a later timeline are still encouraged to explore. For more background on Collegiate School, please visit: www.collegiateschool.org.
Target Hiring Salary Range $375k – $450k
Essential Duties:
- Develops and maintains a highly collaborative working relationship with the Head of School to ensure cohesive messaging of the head’s institutional strategic goals and objectives, including alternatives and their financial implications, for consideration by board committees and other key constituencies.
- Ensures the safekeeping of the School’s assets and the integrity of the accounting records; Provides accurate and timely financial information to the Head of the School and Trustees on School operations.
- Oversees budget preparation, confers with administrators, faculty and staff as necessary on all budget matters.
- Leads analysis to guide tuition and compensation setting strategies in consultation with the Finance Committee.
- Partners with the Director of Development for proper recording of donor gifts and managing pledges receivable. Supports DOD in establishing financial case for significant gifts (including capital campaign initiatives).
- Works with the Director of Human Resources on hiring, onboarding, off-boarding, strategizing and managing benefits, overseeing employee relations, and ensuring federal and state compliance.
- Develops strategy and executes transactions for self-insured health insurance. Oversees Director of Human Resources in administration of health benefits. Oversee update of the employee handbook and employment agreements.
- Oversees the development, administration, and reporting on the Financial Statements to the School’s Board of Trustees; auditors; federal, state, and local authorities; rating and bond information agencies; donors; and various Collegiate administrative offices.
- Executes the School’s endowment and investment policy; Monitors investment decisions with the Board Investment Committee; Coordinates with the endowment manager, and ensures effective endowment allocations, performance, and reporting.
- Organizes agendas and meeting material for the Finance Committee, Investment Committee, and Audit Committee. Supports PPP committee on strategic analysis and execution.
- Presents at Board meetings for significant financial initiatives including tuition setting, preliminary and final budgets and audit results, and other matters as requested.
- Collaborates with general counsel and insurance brokers regarding all Risk Management matters;
- Effectively manages and supervises the Business Office including personnel management and all functions of the Business Office.
- Oversees the School billing and collection of tuition and fee. Discusses with parents’ payment schedules. Serves as check signer.
- Responsible for year-end audit coordination, Prepares and reviews audit reports. Drafts financial statements.
- Oversees the preparation and analysis for auditors and directs preparation of the school’s 990 form and required 5500 forms to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
- Supervises the Director of Facilities and Safety; meets regularly to discuss and oversee relevant issues.
- Oversees construction and renovation projects, including attendance at regular meetings with architects, contractors and the Building Committee.
- Supervises the external Food Service provider. Meets regularly to discuss relevant issues.
- Performs related duties as assigned.
Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in business, finance, accounting or related field is required. Master’s degree in a related field, MBA and/or Master’s degree in accounting or finance, is strongly preferred. Certified Public Accountant certification is a plus though not required.
Experience in an independent secondary school is strongly preferred though financial leadership professionals from other sectors, e.g., higher education or financial services are encouraged to explore.
10+ years’ work experience in accounting and financial management experience is required.
Five years of senior management leadership experience is required, preferably in an independent school setting.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Ability and willingness to participate fully in a dynamic day school located in New York City.
- Excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing.
- Ability to motivate and manage a high quality staff and hire new talent.
- Ability to interface with all constituencies of the school community– the Head of the School, the administration, staff, faculty and students, the Board of Trustees, alumni, parents and friends of the School.
- Capable of earning the respect and attention of the faculty, administration, staff, families and the Board of Trustees.
The ideal candidate will be a self-starter with impeccable integrity and an extraordinary work ethic. This person must possess a commitment to K-12 education and to the education of boys. Must have an open, optimistic and collaborative management style coupled with the ability and willingness to act decisively. This person has an enthusiastic commitment to the importance of building and sustaining a diverse, just, inclusive, and equitable academic environment.
Bodie Brizendine
Dear Collegiate Community,
I am pleased to share that the Board of Trustees has unanimously appointed Bodie Brizendine as interim Head of School effective Monday, June 17. She has agreed to serve through June 30, 2026, allowing the Board time and space to conduct a formal search for Collegiate’s next long-term Head.
Ms. Brizendine led The Spence School from 2007 to 2022 and was the head of Marin Academy in California from 1995 to 2006. An English teacher, Ms. Brizendine’s career has been distinguished by a focus on academics, the development of strong faculty, and the deepening of community culture.
Ms. Brizendine will be the 30th recorded Head in our 396-year history and the first woman to lead this boys’ school. She and her family are no strangers to Collegiate; her husband, Bill Bullard, was a member of our English department and Academic Dean for over a decade until 2017.
She is the right leader for Collegiate in this moment. Those familiar with her from her years at Spence describe her as remarkably capable, warm, and steady. As an experienced leader, administrator, and teacher, Ms. Brizendine understands well the need for a strong community in the service of supporting our boys as they learn and grow.
I ask that we give her time to immerse herself in the school. She will work this summer on deepening relationships with our administrative team and faculty, identifying our immediate needs, and preparing to open our red doors in September to welcome our boys back to the school they love. I know that our entire community will be eager to meet Ms. Brizendine, and we are working on ways to introduce her and begin a dialogue with our community.
For now, Ms. Brizendine wanted me to share the following message with you:
It is my honor and my privilege to serve Collegiate School, a leader in boys’ education that I have long admired and respected. I understand my charge as interim Head of School and will meet those responsibilities with both confidence and humility. With my deep appreciation to the Board of Trustees for the trust they have invested in me, I am eager to meet the full Collegiate community, most immediately the faculty and staff, and, of course, the students and their families.
Collegiate is an extraordinarily special place. During my discussions with Ms. Brizendine, I emphasized our commitment to rigor and boys’ education, and our desire to prepare young men to be active citizens in our diverse world. As an alum, I also shared the meaning of our brotherhood and the importance to our students of that lifelong bond.
I close this letter with gratitude. I am grateful to our faculty and administrators for their enduring focus on our boys; grateful to our boys and families for their love of school and resilience through change; and, now, grateful to Ms. Brizendine for being willing to lead us. While this school year has been challenging for so many, we embrace this next chapter with the courage, compassion, and care that defines Collegiate.
In unity there is strength,
Jonathan K. Youngwood ’85
President, Board of Trustees
Collegiate School Benefits, DEI and Employment Background Checks Required
Collegiate School offers a dynamic and supportive work environment, competitive salaries and a generous benefits package including a retirement plan, paid vacations and a full complement of health benefits.
Collegiate School is an equal opportunity employer. Collegiate School does not discriminate in matters of hiring, training, promotion, transfer, wages, discharge, school benefits, or working conditions because of sex, race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ethnicity, citizenship, sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, transgender status, military status, veteran status, marital status, familial status, genetic information, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.
A thorough background check including a criminal background check and drug screening is required as a condition of employment.
Contact
To explore this career opportunity on a confidential basis, please send your resume, a letter of interest and a list of 5 references (which will only be contacted if mutual interest is determined) to:
Doug Cooney, Executive Search Consultant, DEERFIELD ASSOCIATES Executive Search, Inc.
572 Washington Street, Suite 15, Wellesley, MA 02482 Telephone: 781-237-2800.
Email: jobs@deerfieldassociates.com