Chief Financial Officer

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $250,000 - $300,000

Position Summary

In conjunction with the Chair and the Departmental Administrator/COO (DA), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) serves as the senior financial executive with department-level accountability for all facets of financial strategy, planning, and operations in the Department of Psychiatry. The CFO leads and directs the budget and finance team; manages the procurement and accounts payable business office; oversees clinical revenue cycle operations; and is accountable for sponsored project administration including pre- and post-award activities, recruitment and retention planning, clinical trials, subcontracts, and contracts. The CFO performs advanced financial analyses and modeling and directly sets strategic goals for the department, improving financial performance and identifying areas of financial, clinical, and academic opportunity. In addition, the CFO serves as the primary financial liaison to NewYork Presbyterian Hospital (NYP), the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH) finance offices; with the authority to influence and shape the financial planning, accounting practices, strategic resource business intelligence and budgeting across the institutions.

Responsibilities

45% Department Financial Leadership and Strategy

• Provides the DA and senior leadership with a departmental operating budget including clinical practice, research and education, and fund balance activity. Maintains and enhances a complete and systematic set of financial reports to inform decision-making at various levels of the organization.
• Coordinate and develop the department's annual operating budgets for CUP in concert with divisional and departmental financial operating performance goals. Develop consolidated budget materials and support for annual presentation to CUMC administration, university budget officers, and central offices. Support the same process for RFMH in coordination with RFMH Director.
• Oversees clinical revenue cycle operations with both internal and external teams to ensure optimization and process improvements/potential centralization and scalability.
• Directs the department's financial planning and accounting practices, as well as its financial relationships with the P&S, CUMC, Columbia University, NYP, RFMH, NYSPI and other affiliates.
• Manage revenue and expense reporting and control systems, report generation, forecasting models, and reconciliation procedures for departmental accounts as well as accounts of other entities such as NYP, RFMH, NYSPI.
• Serves as a central liaison for the department for matters related to the department's budget and financial operations to CU and NYP finance offices.
• Advises, educates and serves as an internal consultant for departmental fiscal officers and senior management on budget and financial issues.

25% Forecasting, Strategic Planning, and Business Development

• Partners with divisional administrators and program managers to monitor and improve the financial performance of the divisions and programs.
• Provides visionary leadership in forecasting methodologies for expenditures, revenues, and allocation of resources.
• Introduces performance benchmarks and routine reporting dashboards to communicate financial performance.
• Meets regularly with divisional administrators and program managers to develop corrective action plans aligned with department-wide financial goals.
• Leads business plans for high-impact initiatives and cross-institutional ventures that span across CUP, RFMH, and NYSPI.
• Provides project and growth strategy leadership for new initiatives, including financial analyses to assess programmatic results across the department and affiliated institutions.
• Provides insight and creative problem-solving through thoughtful budget analysis, forecasting, and modeling.
• Maintains knowledge of developments and trends in finance and administration including technological advances.

15% Organizational Leadership and Talent Development

• Responsible for the direct management of the CUP Departmental Finance team including personnel responsible for financial operations and analysis and the departmental business office. The RFMH finance office will report to the RFMH Director to assure appropriate separation of controls.
• Provides constructive and timely performance evaluations, establishes a culture of accountability and high performance, and ensures succession planning and leadership development within the finance team.
• Champions professional growth, mentoring, and cross-training within the finance team to strengthen institutional resilience.

10% Reporting, Compliance, and Risk Management

• Ensure accurate and proper general accounting procedures are followed in all areas of financial operations including procurement, payables, cash management, internal audit and all other business office functions in CUP. Coordinate with RFMH Director to ensure same within RFMH.
• Meets fiduciary responsibility, leads department-wide compliance initiatives, and ensures adherence to audit requirements.
• Collaborates with the various reporting groups and fiscal officers within the department to ensure all financial reporting and analysis is consistent, professional, and accurate.
• Monitors, reports, and explains variances to approved budget; anticipates and mitigates financial risk; addresses variances and presents alternatives for achieving departmental goals, and works with the RFMH Director to ensure the same for RFMH.

5% Other Leadership Duties

• Acts as a senior advisor to the DA on financial matters and serves on cross-institutional committees, representing Psychiatry in department-wide financial and strategic initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent in education and experience, plus seven years of related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree preferred. MBA in accounting or finance related field and ten years of progressively comprehensive experience in large complex organizations, preferably in a healthcare or medical school setting, at a senior level. Master's degree or MBA in Accounting, Finance, or related field strongly preferred, with proven track record as a CFO, Deputy CFO, or equivalent senior financial leader in a large, complex healthcare or academic medical environment.
• Strong understanding of healthcare or medical school operations and finances including fund accounting, physician practices and grant finances.
• Previous experience working in a senior leadership role at the Medical Center is strongly preferred.
• High level of competence in analytical techniques and computing skills.
• Demonstrated experience successfully collaborating with colleagues across institutions to achieve requirements of complex projects and successfully manage budgets exceeding $250M and direct department-level financial planning.
• Extensive experience in developing and implementing innovative clinical and non-clinical compensation, incentive, and financial sustainability models.
• Demonstrated skills in problem assessment, and resolution and collaborative problem solving in complex, interdisciplinary settings.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence at Executive Levels
• Outstanding analytical, strategic, and leadership skills, with demonstrated success in transformational change management.
• Excellent oral/written communication, interpersonal, organizational, analytical and computer (e.g., Word, Excel, Power Point, other database software, etc.) skills.
• Self-starter with a well-developed aptitude for quantitative analysis, capable of working with minimal oversight to set priorities, and problem solving.
• Possesses experience in developing project plans and strong project management skills.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.