Announcements

Position Overview

The Athletics CFO will be chiefly responsible for providing strategic financial leadership to Intercollegiate Athletics and serving as a C-suite liaison to multiple campus partners (Office of Legal Affairs, Chancellor’s Office, Provost’s Office, Capital Strategies, Academic Senate and Faculty Subcommittees focused on Athletics), as well as the department lead for various Department and Campus initiatives (outside consultants, peer reviews, etc.). This person will serve on the Intercollegiate Athletics Director’s Cabinet and oversee all financial departmental functions. They will also serve on the VC Finance’s leadership team, which drives the connection between campus and divisional priorities. 

This position leads the development of a multi-year financial sustainability plan for Intercollegiate Athletics. As the landscape of higher education is evolving, the future of collegiate NCAA Division I Power 4 athletic programs is changing as well. The next Athletics CFO will need to be a dynamic leader who will be flexible and responsive within rapid changes. They will bring an understanding of the current environment and needs, as well as expertly advise on, anticipate, and plan for the road ahead for higher education and collegiate athletics. The position will be responsible for developing a financial model that will emphasize long term revenue maximization of Football and Basketball, monetize assets, and leverage capital with out of the box thinking, while balancing the need for keen expense control insights. The role will oversee a team in managing the budget, so a priority for the next CFO will be multi-directional leadership: provide vision, long term analysis and thinking, and mentorship to their team; provide creativity, storytelling, comprehensive solutions, and executive advising to the leadership in Athletics and Finance; and provide clarity, understanding, collaboration, and excellent facilitation to key stakeholders.

This role oversees the divisional financial resources on a multi-disciplinary basis, with insight into all funds, including core funds, endowed gift funds, capital budgets, revenue, awards and grants. This position leads the development, interpretation, and implementation of financial concepts for financial planning, resource planning (dollars), and control of the department’s budget. They analyze and prepare recommendations for financial plans, including annual resource allocations, future requirements, and operating forecasts. They have a fiduciary responsibility to keep the entire Athletics division on budget, drive their budget strategy, and coordinate between the VCF-CFO and the Athletics Director’s Cabinet. This role liaises with the VCF-CFO, the co-athletic directors, campus leadership, the athletic department’s chief operating officer, the general manager for football, the coaches, and the donors as appropriate. They must also maintain strategic relationships with University Donor and Alumni Relations, Capital Strategies, and Student Affairs.

The next Athletics CFO will be a dynamic financial storyteller and skilled communicator, able to distill complicated financial matters into easily digestible communications for a variety of audiences. The Athletics budget is of great interest to many stakeholders, and as a public entity we have a responsibility to be transparent, particularly in a time of such change.

This position also involves developing, promoting, and supporting the operational and strategic aspects of intercollegiate student-athlete programs, including financial planning, budget administration, revenue accounting and analytics, and accounting. This role directs business operations, financial forecasting, and other administrative functions. The role participates with other senior managers to establish strategic plans and objectives.

Responsibilities

Financial Leadership:

• Leads development and oversight of the Athletics financial sustainability plan and strategic financial multi-year outlook, including the creation of executive or detailed level reports specific to the global Athletics budget, sport specific budgets, fundraising tracking, forecasting, etc. 
• Maintains the integrity of the organization's budget, forecast, reporting and tracking systems through supervision and oversight of budget and fiscal staff and protocols; functions as chief budget liaison for resource allocations. Is responsible for in-year budget management of all funds. 
• Analyzes funding issues, resource allocations, and funding models. Oversees gifts made to support Intercollegiate Athletics (IA) specific endeavors, spending, capital projects, and endowment analysis.

Strategic & Executive Advising & Partnership:

• Identifies strategic goals and makes recommendations on financial milestones. Creates and manages the financial plan for the Athletics division, gaining buy-in from the Chancellor and Provost. 
• Serves as a senior-level thought partner to the VCF-CFO, CO-Athletics Directors, and the Football GM.
• Engages with senior management or executive levels on matters concerning several functional areas, units, and customers.
• Interacts and communicates with coaches, administrative personnel, and Athletics staff. 
• Works with VCF, Co-ADs and others on new, strategic, revenue generating, cost cutting or financial controls initiatives.

Communication:

• Drives the financial narrative for Athletics and is able to present a clear financial picture and purpose to audiences at varying levels of financial expertise and intercollegiate athletics knowledge.
• Helps respond to internal and external inquiries regarding the athletics budget.

Functional Management: 

• Manages the Business and Finance unit within Athletics, which includes managers and personnel that work with the Athletics teams, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Financial Data Analytics, Procurement, Budgeting, Reporting, Forecasting, and Planning and Analysis. 
• Develops, modifies, and executes appropriate internal controls to protect university resources.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated financial leadership skills with the ability to think creatively, tell clear and compelling stories using financial data, advise and work with diverse executive-level stakeholders, plan short and long term, and implement initiatives with broad impact in complex environments.
• A thorough understanding of financial modeling and the ability to create and maintain complex financial models. 
• Working knowledge of accounting principles, including profit and loss statements and balance sheets. 
• Public finance knowledge; excellent skills in financial analysis, budgeting and reporting techniques, fund accounting, human resource planning, payroll analysis, accounting and bookkeeping. 
• Strong ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing. Demonstrated ability to articulate complex concepts to groups at multiple levels.  
• Demonstrated interpersonal and collaboration skills and ability to work effectively across the organization at all levels; ability to interact with diverse populations. Must have the ability to represent multiple stakeholder groups successfully, create consensus, and manage diverse needs with a high level of autonomy.  
• Proven track record of managing staff and leading units to achieve measurable goals. 
• Client services oriented; good listening, critical thinking and analytical skills. 
• Ability to multitask and prioritize with a high level of autonomy. 
• Ability to evaluate processes to establish and maintain appropriate accountability structures and strong internal control elements. 
• Advanced skills with relevant office and accounting software. 
• Required undergraduate degree in a related field and/or equivalent experience & training.  
• Must develop and maintain current knowledge of applicable rules and standards of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as well as other associations and agencies to which the Berkeley campus of the University of California adheres, and, at all times, avoid any violations of these rules and standards.