Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance and Chief Financial Officer - Office of the Chancellor

About this role

Location SAINT LOUIS, MO 63105

 Scheduled Hours 40

Position Summary Reporting directly to the Chancellor and serving as an officer of the university, the Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the senior enterprise financial executive for Washington University in St. Louis, with financial oversight spanning both the Danforth campus and WashU Medicine. Is accountable for the financial strategy, integrity, and long-term sustainability of the university as a unified enterprise — ensuring that financial planning, budgeting, treasury management, capital strategy, and internal controls are sound, coordinated, and aligned with institutional priorities across all mission areas.

Serves as the university's principal financial advisor to the Chancellor, the Board of Trustees, and senior leadership, and as the university's senior representative to rating agencies, financial institutions, and the external financial community. Engages with the Board on matters of fiduciary responsibility and serves as the university's credible institutional counterpart on endowment governance and investment strategy. Leads the university's finance organization and is responsible for building financial capability, discipline, and accountability across a complex, multi-mission institution encompassing education, research, and academic medicine.

As a member of the university's senior leadership team, the CFO translates financial strategy into institutional decision-making, partners with operational, medical and academic leadership to align resources with strategic priorities, and represents the university's financial interests with the rigor and credibility the role demands — before the Board, in the external financial community, and across the enterprise.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities: Financial Leadership • Ensures financial viability and sustainability of the university's financial position — as a unified enterprise and of its major components — through timely, accurate financial reporting and analysis. • Serves as the key financial advisor to the Chancellor, senior leadership, and Board of Trustees. • Manages and optimizes the university's treasury function, including liquidity, working capital, and debt strategy. • Represents the university's financial interests externally with credit rating agencies, banking partners, and the broader capital markets community, optimizing credit facilities and banking relationships in support of the university's capital strategy. • Ensures robust internal controls throughout the institution.

Finance Organization Leadership • Leads the university's direct finance organization across six functions: Treasury & Insurance, Accounting Services, Sponsored Research Accounting, Shared Business Services Hub, Financial Planning & Budget, and Workday Finance Support. • Ensures the financial sustainability and effectiveness of the Shared Business Services Hub — measuring performance and driving accountability for shared services cost and service outcomes. • Partners with WashU Medicine leadership on the selection, development, and integration of finance leadership across the medical enterprise. Partners with the Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs in the search for the WashU Medicine Vice Chancellor and CFO.

Strategic Leadership • Partners with the Chancellor, COO, and university leadership to develop and implement financial plans and strategies that support university-wide strategic initiatives and institutional sustainability. • Engages with the Board and university leadership on matters of fiduciary responsibility. • Provides strategic financial input on issues affecting the university, including structure, evaluation of potential business relationships, growth opportunities, and new business models. • Evaluates and advises on the financial impact of short- and long-range planning, new programs and strategies, and legislative and regulatory actions.

Partnership and Institutional Leadership • Builds and sustains a trusted partnership with the COO — engaging as genuine collaborators on financial strategy and institutional priorities. • Serves as an active and credible member of the university cabinet — a full institutional leader who contributes to the broader strategic direction of the university. • Works collaboratively with the full Mission Stewardship Council to ensure resource decisions reflect institutional priorities across all mission areas. • Builds trust with faculty and academic leadership by translating financial realities into terms that resonate with the academic enterprise; develops genuine curiosity about and respect for academic culture, shared governance, and the rhythms of university life.

Endowment Governance and WUIMC Relationship • Serves as the university's credible, well-prepared counterpart to WashU Investment Management Company (WUIMC), which manages the university's endowment under an independent Chief Investment Officer. • Engages substantively at the Board level, negotiating on behalf of the university's liquidity and capital needs and ensuring investment strategy conversations reflect institutional priorities.

Budget Strategy and Resource Allocation • Develops and maintains the university's budget model as a strategic tool that links financial resources to institutional priorities and measurable performance. • Ensures budget processes surface explicit trade-off decisions grounded in data, and drive transparency in decision-making, funding usage, and unit-level financial accountability. • Aligns incentives with strategic priorities across research, innovation, and clinical activities, and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration through the university's resource allocation methodology. • Leads this work in close coordination with the COO and in collaboration with the full Mission Stewardship Council.

Board Engagement • Provides input and support to the Finance Committee of the Board

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