Assistant Dean of Finance and Administration

Job Description

The Assistant Dean of Finance & Administration serves as the senior financial executive overseeing the financial management, planning and analysis, and main administrative functions of the Whitman School of Management. Reporting to the Dean, this role is responsible for planning and execution of comprehensive fiscal operations, financial modeling for decision making, monitoring of key performance indicators, operational management, and related policies, procedures and internal controls for an approximately $ million annual budget.

The Assistant Dean is part of the senior leadership team of the Whitman School, while also partnering with the senior finance and budget team of Syracuse University, to advance Whitman’s academic mission and growth objectives. This position will lead and support an organizational culture of modern financial management, including stewardship of tuition and gift accounts, clear data analyses and tracking, making recommendations for executive decision making, forecasting and identifying/evaluating opportunities for improvements and growth; budget preparation, management and reporting; coordinating administrative functions across teams; ensuring compliance with institutional and accreditation policies and regulations; and continuous process improvement and assessment. Education and Experience

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree relevant to the position preferred, with professional certifications in related areas being a plus.
• 10+ years of financial planning, analysis and management experience.
• Strong analytical, financial, and operational management skills.
• Demonstrated organizational excellence of leading people within a modern and efficient FP&A environment, leveraging technological tools, advanced data analysis, and data visualization to drive informed decision-making and operational effectiveness.

Skills and Knowledge

• Leadership and strategic and operational experience, including knowledge of best practice regarding efficient and effective usage of existing financial resources.
• Exceptional problem-solving and decision-making skills, with an ability to think critically and strategically about financial impact.
• Extensive knowledge of financial models, revenue streams, and regulatory frameworks, preferably within higher education or similarly complex environments.
• Strong understanding of endowment and gift management, capital project financing, financial oversight, risk assessment and budgets.
• Excellent technical proficiency, including related to analytics and data visualization.
• Proven experience with leading high-performing budget teams, including performance management and accountability.
• Outstanding collaboration skills and excellent verbal and written communication, including ability to be both concise and detailed, and working with a variety of stakeholders.
• Need to be proactive and forward thinking, including ability to emphasize problem solving, multi-task multiple priorities and secure stakeholder buy in.
• Positive attitude and willingness to continuously improve.

Responsibilities Strategic financial planning & analysis

• Oversight of and leadership over Whitman’s budget (approximately $M annually).
• Develop, maintain and refine a comprehensive multi-year financial plan for Whitman, including sensitivity analyses and due diligence; analyses of income and expenditure patterns and capital expenditure needs; forecasting; internal controls, external grants and contracts, and budget execution.
• Create financial models and analytics for decision making to support Whitman’s strategy, projections and priorities.
• Contribute financial and operational insight into academic policies and practices.
• Evaluate financial and operational requests from units and centers, including staffing patterns and needs, and how they contribute to Whitman’s goals.
• Communicate clearly and transparently about critical issues relying on data visualization.

Operational excellence

• Identify and track performance across a select group of KPIs that are tied to institutional goals.
• Build and maintain dashboards and other communication tools to report on these KPIs.
• Identify process improvements, conduct financial feasibility studies and pricing strategies analyses, examine net impact of opportunities, develop processes, policies and internal controls for stewardship of endowment and gift accounts (in conjunction with Advancement team and other offices), manage space and infrastructure plans and needs (such as IT), and special projects; includes forecasting, risk assessment, and compliance.

Management & representation

• Direct supervision of Whitman staff administrative leaders and their direct reports in Budget, Administration, Faculty Support, IT and Facilities.
• Create culture of continuous improvement and training to program leaders.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, including acting as a liaison to a variety of offices within Whitman and across Syracuse University, notably the central budget team.

Fund management

• Assess fund management (restricted and unrestricted) to ensure proper usage in line with intent and restrictions.
• Fiscal stewardship of endowments and gifts in conjunction with Advancement team.
• Other duties as assigned.

Physical Requirements Not Applicable Tools/Equipment Not Applicable