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St. Andrew’s School

Chief Financial Officer

Deerfield Associates has been retained by St. Andrew’s School, located in Middletown, Delaware, to conduct a national search for a Chief Financial Officer.

Position Summary:

St. Andrew’s School seeks a full-time Chief Financial Officer. St. Andrew’s was founded in 1929 as an independent, Episcopal boarding school. The school educates about 315 students from around the world each year in an all-residential setting and has a long-standing commitment to financial aid and socioeconomic diversity. Our students and faculty come from a wide range of backgrounds, traditions, and experiences, and it is this variety that creates a vibrant and challenging learning environment that makes our worlds larger.

The Chief Financial Officer will be responsible for the fiscal health, long-range planning, and management of the following departments: the business office, facilities, human resources, information technology, and security. With approximately 180 employees including 75 faculty, an operating budget of $26 million, an endowment of nearly $220 million, and a 2,200-acre campus, the scale of the enterprise is comparable to a small liberal arts college. The school’s ability to fulfill its important and ambitious mission depends entirely on the sound and energetic management of its human, physical, and financial assets.

The CFO will provide leadership and counsel to the head of school and trustees that will enable the school to achieve its important educational mission and ambitions. They will serve as a key member of the St. Andrew’s leadership team focused on the planning and implementation of school priorities.

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 January 2024, though interested individuals who are not able to start until a later timeline are still encouraged to explore. For more background on St. Andrew’s School, please visit: www.standrews-de.org.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Develop and maintain a highly collaborative relationship with the head of school and ensure cohesive messaging of the head’s strategic goals and objectives internally as well as to board members and other stakeholders;
  • Oversee the collaborative annual development of the operating budget and its effective administration and reporting to relevant stakeholders;
  • Work with the Buildings and Grounds and Finance and Audit Committees of the board on behalf of the head of school and develop their workflow, agendas, and meeting materials;
  • Manage the business and operation functions of the school with foresight and planning, and exceptional collegiality, customer service, and business practices;
  • Supervise, coach and mentor a team of empowered, dynamic leaders overseeing critical functions in facilities, IT, human resources, and security and align with the mission and purpose of the school;
  • Recommend and implement best practices to maximize effectiveness and efficiency;
  • Work with the Finance and Audit Committee to manage the school’s balance sheet and outstanding municipal debt;
  • Act as principal risk manager, maintaining comprehensive and cost-efficient property, liability, and umbrella coverage and remain abreast of policies and practices of peer schools to mitigate potential risks at a local and regional level for St. Andrew’s;
  • Represent the school when requested;
  • Live on campus and perform duties customarily assigned to faculty in a boarding school such as dorm duty, coaching, or advising students.

 

  • Working with the support of the controller:
    • Develop and deliver the long-range financial plans of the school in accordance with the school’s strategic plan, proactively modeling and forecasting scenarios to support mission-centric decisions;
    • Lead and manage the school’s central business functions to ensure appropriate financial controls and procedures;
    • Oversee the preparation for annual audits of the school’s finances and retirement plans;
    • Control the flow of cash through the organization and maintain the integrity of funds, securities, and other valuable documents and assets;
    • Collaborate with leaders and departments to develop and adhere to mission-centric zero-based budgets in a collaborative annual planning process;
    • Ensure that the school complies with all federal, state, and local laws as well as maintain tax exempt-status on a federal, state, and local level and report the same to the Finance and Audit Committee;
    • Maintain banking and investment relationship with financial institutions according to the investment policies/strategies established by the Finance and Audit Committee, including managing the relationship with the outsourced chief investment officer;
    • Oversee the internal accounting of endowed funds for the purposes of stewardship and work with the Chief Advancement Officer and her team to ensure the proper stewardship and reporting of gifts to donors;
    • Interact with all third-party consultants, including those providing services related to the endowment, health insurance, benefits programs, insurance, dining, and architectural planning;
    • Review all agreements concerning financial obligations, such as contracts for products or services and other actions requiring a commitment of financial resources; assess suitability to meet the school’s strategic plan and ensure proper execution.

 

  • Working with the support of the director of facilities:
    • Manage the school’s long-term capital plan and land-use initiatives;
    • Ensure the efficient and successful operation and renewal of the physical plant consistent with the educational mission and the school’s carbon-reduction and sustainability goals;
    • Provide leadership in the execution of capital projects.

 

  • Working with the support of the director of human resources:
    • Support the dean of faculty and hiring managers throughout the school to ensure the recruitment and retention of the most talented faculty and staff, including annual performance conversations for all staff;
    • Oversee employment policies, appropriate staffing levels, compensation and benefits across the organization;
    • Ensure compliance with all local, state, and federal requirements regarding employment policies and practices;
    • Ensure ongoing training of staff concerning general procedures and specialized knowledge.

 

  • Working with the support of the director of information technology:
    • Oversee and implement annual and long-range plans for the IT infrastructure and support in keeping with peer school standards and adequate to support educational and administrative innovation and excellence.

 

  • Working with the support of the director of security:
    • Ensure the safety and security of the campus and the people here in keeping with principles of risk management, peer standards, and adequate to support excellence in all areas of school life.

The successful candidate will:

  • Possess a passion for the mission of a small, Episcopal all-boarding school with an historic commitment to financial aid;
  • Be able to motivate and manage a diverse and high-quality staff, with experience successfully working collaboratively with people from all backgrounds and within every level of the organization;
  • Communicate clearly both orally and in writing;
  • Be prepared to teach and mentor direct reports to encourage growth and collaboration between departments and colleagues;
  • Be a creative, strategic, analytical thinker and a planner by nature;
  • Possess effective negotiation and relationship management skills;
  • Approach tasks and interactions with integrity, honesty, and patience;
  • Enthusiastically immerse themselves into the school community by living on campus and becoming involved in school life;
  • Have a demonstrated commitment to inclusion and belonging, an ability to build trust and alignment with honesty and integrity.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in a relevant field.
  • Master’s degree in a related field, preferred.
  • At least ten years of proven managerial, strategic leadership, analytical skills, problem-solving, and planning capability.
  • Significant experience in managing school operations and leading various operational departments. Non-profit, college, university, or boarding school experience is a plus.
  • Passion for continuous process improvement, accuracy, and detail.
  • Strong, hands-on experience in financial management including analysis and reporting, budgeting, asset management, audit compliance, federal and state tax and employment regulations and reporting procedures.
  • Knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles.
  • Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills with a demonstrated ability to communicate effectively and relate authentically and wholeheartedly with students, parents, staff, faculty, trustees and others in a collaborative administrative team.

St. Andrew’s campus is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful boarding-school settings in the country. Located on 2,200 acres of farmland, wildlife habitat, and eastern deciduous woodlands, the school features many miles of maintained trails, two lakes, and access to the Appoquinimink River and Delaware’s estuarial wetlands.

Founders Hall contains dozens of classrooms, the dining hall, main common room, Felix duPont, Jr Chapel, Forbes Theatre, and the Irene duPont Library among other spaces. Boys’ dormitories occupy the second and third floors of the building and there are many offices on the main floor, including admissions, the head of school, and business office. There are eight girls’ dorms and dozens of faculty homes on the main campus. All students board and all but a handful of faculty live on campus.

The hub of the arts on campus is the O’Brien Arts Center, comprising a state-of-the-art music performance hall, the Warner Gallery, multiple painting, drawing, and printmaking studios, sound-engineered rehearsal rooms for instrumental ensembles and voice, recording studios, photography labs, and more. Forbes Theatre is a dedicated space for dramatic productions, musicals, and acting class exhibitions, featuring an orchestra pit.

The center of athletics is the Sipprelle Field House, housing basketball/volleyball courts, an indoor track, weight room and cardio fitness room, sports medicine and rehab center, and locker rooms and team rooms. The adjacent Cameron Gymnasium houses nine international squash courts, another basketball court, a wrestling room and dance studio. The nearby Genereaux Aquatic Center houses locker and team facilities for the swimming team and a six-lane, 25-yard swimming pool. The Kip duPont Boat House features two boat bays and a repair/staging bay adjacent to Washburn Cove, where boats launch for practices and most regattas. Outdoors, the school has world-class grass fields (five for soccer, four for lacrosse, two for field hockey, and one baseball diamond, a game and a practice field for football), as well as 11 tennis courts at our outdoor tennis center.

In fall 2019, Amos Hall, St. Andrew’s STEM facility, reopened after a yearlong $13 million renovation. The renovation doubled lab space in the building and created dedicated space for robotics and computer science, and the entire building is now LEED-certified.

Joy McGrath, Head of School

Joy McGrath ’92 is St. Andrew’s fifth head of school. She was a faculty member at St. Andrew’s from 1999 to 2007, serving as director of advancement, a dorm parent, and English teacher, among other assignments. Prior to returning to St. Andrew’s in 2021, Ms. McGrath served as the chief of staff to the president of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. A graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, Ms. McGrath is a native of Delaware. She and her husband, Ty Jones ’92, live on St. Andrew’s campus.

St. Andrew’s School Mission

In 1929, the School’s Founder, A. Felix duPont, wrote: “The purpose of St. Andrew’s School is to provide secondary education of a definitely Christian character at a minimum cost consistent with modern equipment and highest standards.”

We continue to cultivate in our students a deep and lasting desire for learning, a willingness to ask questions and pursue skeptical, independent inquiry and an appreciation of the liberal arts as a source of wisdom, perspective and hope. We encourage our students to do the work of scholars, artists and scientists and to develop those expressive and analytical skills necessary for effective communication, judicious consideration of multiple points of view and for meaningful lives as engaged citizens. We seek to help our students develop a passion for intellectual pursuits such that each student feels inspired to develop and pursue his/her individual talents.

Our students and faculty live in a residential community founded on ethical principles and Christian beliefs. We expect our faculty and staff to make our students’ interests primary, to maintain professional roles with students and to act as role models at all times, to set and maintain healthy boundaries with students, to encourage student autonomy and independence, to act transparently with students, and to support each student’s developmental growth and social integration at the School. Our students collaborate with dynamic adults and pursue their passions in a co-curriculum that includes athletics, community service and the arts. We encourage our students to find the balance between living in and contributing to the community and developing themselves as leaders and individuals.

As an Episcopal School, St. Andrew’s is grounded in and upheld by our Episcopal identity, welcoming persons regardless of their religious background. We are called to help students explore their spirituality and faith as we nurture their understanding and appreciation of all world religions. We urge students to be actively involved in community service with the understanding that all members of the community share responsibility for improving the world in which we live. We seek to inspire in our students a commitment to justice, peace and respect for every human being.

St. Andrew’s is committed to the sustainability and stewardship of its land, water and other natural resources. We honor this commitment by what we teach and by how we live in community and harmony with the natural world. On our campus, students, faculty, and staff from a variety of backgrounds work together to create a vibrant and diverse community. St. Andrew’s exceptional financial aid program makes this possible, enabling the school to admit students regardless of their financial needs.

The School’s Benefits

The chief financial officer position at St. Andrew’s School offers an exciting and supportive work environment, a competitive salary and benefit package which includes campus housing, health, dental and vision plans, a strong 403(b) retirement savings plan with match, tuition remission, and paid vacation.

St. Andrew’s School is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome diverse candidates of all backgrounds, faith, and persuasions, and seek to foster an inclusive, welcoming community environment. A thorough background check, inclusive of fingerprinting and Child Protection Registry check, is required as a condition of employment.

Contact Information

To explore this career opportunity on a confidential basis, please send your resume including a postal mailing address, 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

572 Washington Street, Suite #15 • Wellesley, MA 02482 • 781.237.2800 • Contact us