Chief Financial and Administrative Officer

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) is responsible for the strategic allocation of human and capital resources to support the tri-mission of the School of Nursing (SoN). The CAO leads the finance, operations, information technology, and facilities functions. The CAO leads the Operations, Finance, IT, Facilities as well as business development to include clinical practice and partnership operations ensuring that these areas support the academic, research, and clinical practice missions of the SoN. The CAO will develop strong and cooperative relationships with the faculty and staff in the School and the community, as well as with the various resources and departments of the Health Sciences and University to work most productively and effectively. The CAO will engage in a key role in promoting a collaborative culture of One Community within the School.

This position reports directly to the Dean of the School of Nursing, serves as a member of the executive management team, and collaborates with and advises the Dean’s Office, the Office of Nursing Research and Scholarship, the Office of Academic Programs, the Cooperative Units, the Centers of the School, the School of Nursing Foundation, and Alumni Society related to operational needs.

This position directly supervises the Finance Manager, who oversees accounting staff responsible for the School’s business operations, the Facilities and Technology Director, and (2) staff members who provide data analytics, contract management, and program support.

Supervision:
The CAO directly supervises managers in finance, operations, IT, and facilities, and serves as a key advisor to the Dean’s Office on administrative matters. The CAO also has dotted-line oversight of Health Sciences Information Services.

Key Responsibilities:

Financial (35%)

• Serves as the Chief Financial Manager for the School of Nursing and the Resource Responsibility Center (RRC) Manager for the School of Nursing to ensure fiscal integrity and sound financial planning.
• Provides leadership and is accountable for business unit budgets, capital plans and revenue/expense forecasts. Controls all expenditures and statement of accounts to ensure regulatory compliance and fiscal integrity.
• Represents the SON to central administration and other University units on budgetary and fiscal matters.
• Oversee budget development, forecasting, and long-term financial planning, ensuring alignment with the School's strategic goals.
• Responsible for the fiscal activity within the School of Nursing. Collaborates with the Finance Manager and School and University leadership in providing overall financial leadership; and budget planning to include expenses and sources of income.
• Works closely and collaboratively with other senior administrators to proactively engage in predictive forecasting and development of budget models that will advance the mission of the School.
• Develops tools to evaluate school’s financial health and leads studies to determine feasibility of business plans for projected changes in revenue and expenditures for new initiatives.
• Collaborates with the Finance Manager and SoN leadership to initiate and prepare financial studies and business plans for projected changes in revenue and expenditures and new initiatives.
• Develops (in collaboration with the Executive Council) and communicates School of Nursing financial policies and procedures.
• Coordinates the communication of University financial policies and procedures.
• Coordinates and supervises the preparation of financial and budget reports.
• Work with the dean and other leaders on the collegiate budget and planning process, including Responsible for collaboratively developing annual financial documents for the Compact and Budget Planning process.
• Collaborates with the Associate Dean for Research to lead grants management.
• Lead financial studies for new initiatives, business plans, and feasibility analyses for potential changes in revenues and expenditures.
• Lead academic program financial modeling and make recommendations on efficient resource allocation.
• Forecast tuition, practice and research revenues and make recommendations that drive strategic planning for the school.
• Responsible for use of Nursing UMN Foundation fund, including scholarships, endowed chairs and professorships, and strategic initiatives.
• Provide leadership on financial policies, procedures, and compliance with university-wide financial regulations.
• Leads and collaborates with faculty and staff to implement policies, procedures and processes that effectively support the business of the School, e.g. grants, contracts, cash receipts, support for faculty salaries, affiliations, etc.
• Represents the School of Nursing to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Business Offices for Nursing Schools (BONUS) group and serves as a subject matter expert with external groups on resource management.

Operations (35%)

• Ensures that all operational practices and policies and sponsored and non-sponsored grant related activities comply with all applicable policies, laws, regulations, and standards of practice.
• Evaluates, aligns, maintains, and makes recommendations for improving efficiency and effectiveness of all systems, services and functions to support the research, education and practice missions.
• Works closely with Human Resources Director on personnel plans and advises Dean on financial and organizational impacts of staffing decisions.
• Advises, recommends and forecasts on salary decisions such as merit, equity increases and regularly conducts environmental scans for marketplace competitiveness.
• Represents the School of Nursing at the University level in RRC Finance meetings, RRC Facilities meetings, and Scholarship Administrators meetings.
• Foster a workplace environment where unit leadership and employees are committed to principles and practices of respect, collaboration, diversity, inclusivity, continuous improvement, excellent customer service, integrity, and teamwork to advance the School's mission.
• Leads the SoN's transition to University model, ensuring a smooth and efficient shift to new processes for service delivery. Collaborate with leadership and faculty to align operational workflows with University goals for efficiency and sustainability.

Strategy and Contracts (20%)

• Provides operational leadership for improving efficiency and effectiveness of all systems, services and functions to support the research, education and practice missions.
• Advises, consults, and makes recommendations to the executive management team on the operational and financial impacts of strategic, policy, and long-range planning of proposed program changes.
• Develops and leads a School wide internal and external information delivery strategy related to finance, business and operations and proactively informs faculty and staff of changes in process, policies and procedures.
• Ensures operational practices and policies and sponsored and non-sponsored grant related activities comply with all applicable policies, laws, regulations, and standards of practice.
• Carries out changes in a consultative and collaborative manner, partnering with key leadership for information, advice, and counsel. Leads operational components of strategic planning for the School, Centers, and other entities.

Technology and Facilities (10%)

• Oversees the relationship with Health Sciences Technology on technology resources, Facilities Management on space and physical plant issues, and other University services.
• Supervises the SoN Facilities and Technology Director and provides overall leadership for the SoN’s physical space management.
• Leads SoN capital projects to include budget management, equipment procurement, and timelines.
• Provides leadership for long-term facility planning in collaboration with SoN executive team and University leadership.
• Works collaboratively with University of Minnesota system campuses, specifically Rochester campus leadership, on physical space and virtual connections between campuses.
• Leads SoN data management strategy to include, access, workflow and scope of database work; works closely with and supervises the SoN Data Systems and Analytics Manager.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a relevant field such as Business Administration.
Minimum of 12 years relevant experience, including:

• Three years of recent administrative and fiscal experience in an academic setting.
• Five years relevant work experience as a professional administrator in a large, complex organization.
• Three years of direct accounting/budget management experience.
• Three years of supervisory experience; must have significant leadership experience; experience with organizational design and process improvement; outstanding verbal and written communication skills; excellent history of building strong working and collaborative relationships with a wide range of people; outstanding critical thinking and analytical abilities; an orientation towards data-driven and information-based decision making; strong commitment to the mission of the School of Nursing; strong commitment to diversity and equal opportunity; must have a track record of success.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Business-related master's degree/MBA/professional doctoral degree.
• Administrative experience at the University of Minnesota.
• Accounting experience.
• Experience with data information sources and systems, preferably PeopleSoft EFS.
• Experience leading significant change within a large organization.
• Fiscal administrative experience with sponsored and non-sponsored grants and knowledge of grant regulations.