Westlake Village, CA

Vice President for Operations & CFO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

The Organization

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation seeks to recruit a strategic leader as Vice President for Operations and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to be based in Westlake Village, California.

ABOUT THE CONRAD N. HILTON FOUNDATION

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation (“The Foundation”) works to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage throughout the world. Conrad N. Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels, established the Hilton Foundation as a philanthropic trust in 1944. The Foundation continues to be guided by the founder’s mandate to “relieve the suffering, the distressed and destitute.”

From its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.8 billion in grants, distributing $110 million in the U.S. and around the world in 2019. Foundation assets increased from approximately $2.9 billion to $6 billion following the 2019 passing of Barron Hilton who, like his father, pledged virtually his entire estate to the Foundation. The growth in financial resources presents the Foundation with an exciting opportunity to scale the impact of its work globally.

The Foundation is a family foundation.  Governed by an 11-person board of directors of which a majority are direct descendants of Conrad Hilton, the Foundation has thoughtfully adhered to the wishes of its founder.  The Foundation invests in 7 program areas that include the areas of early child development, older youth development, refugees, safe water, Catholic Sisters, and homelessness.  In addition, following selection by an independent international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to a nonprofit organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Hilton Humanitarian Prize is the world’s largest annual humanitarian award.

Guiding the grantmaking, workplace culture and values of the Foundation is an overarching philanthropic approach, which employs four key pillars: grantmaking, communication and advocacy, collaboration, and learning. Together, these global and interrelated channels work to achieve impact by:

• Supporting programmatic solutions to sustain and test recognized and exploratory approaches.

• Investing in strengthening systems which support efforts to scale solutions, improve public policy and infrastructure, and drive funders, providers, and public leaders to invest resources and improve efficiencies toward shared goals.

• Developing knowledge from both direct service and system strengthening programs, integrating this knowledge with what was known before, and disseminating the knowledge to create continuous learning and to support the application of knowledge in each area where they work.

Along with direct services, the Foundation realizes they must also support reducing the systemic barriers that create the need for such programs, strengthen and align the systems that can create pathways of opportunity, and share knowledge about the best ways to achieve lasting change.

The Foundation seeks to exemplify the values and principles practiced by its donors: Integrity, Thinking Big, Humility, Stewardship and Compassion.  The funding afforded by the Foundation allows it to invest for the long term in areas that are traditionally underfunded, take risks, make bold investments, convene partners, and catalyze transformative change.

The Foundation also aspires to create a diverse equitable and inclusive workplace culture. With an understanding that the most vulnerable communities are those disproportionately impacted by systemic barriers and forms of discrimination, the Foundation strives to elevate the voices of those impacted by disparities across race, gender, and class lines to support long-lasting social change.

For more information about the Hilton Foundation, please visit: www.hiltonfoundation.org.

Position Overview

ABOUT THE POSITION

The Vice President Operations and CFO is responsible for setting financial strategy, leading, and implementing policies and practices to guide the Foundation’s financial and operational activities. The Vice President  will manage a department of approximately 37. The Vice President should be proven leader with strong analytical, finance, and operational skills to contribute to a growing organization widely considered among the most influential in global philanthropy.

This individual will report to the President and CEO and serve on the Foundation’s Leadership Team, as well as serving as the primary staff liaison to the Board of Director’s Audit Committee. In consultation with the CEO and Leadership Team, will develop, implement, and oversee core systems and processes that drive how the organization operates. These systems include the organization’s financial, IT and facilities operations.  The Vice President will serve as an “internal consultant” to the CEO, Board, Foundation staff and other key stakeholders on all financial matters, making recommendations and suggesting pro-active strategies to keep the Foundation on track with goals and budgets.

The Vice President will manage and oversee the financial and facilities functions of the Foundation and should possess great people skills and excellent business acumen. The Vice President will help ensure the emerging global strategic grantmaking program is aligned with an inclusive and forward-looking business operations strategy.  The Vice President and CFO will guide the thoughtful and strategic deployment of the finances and operations of the Foundation.  Overall, the Vice President will partner with the Foundation’s leadership to ensure that the workplace operates smoothly.

Moreover, the Vice President will build on the Foundation’s legacy of values and strengths:

• Highly engaged staff and board strongly committed to the Foundation’s mission and values.

• Work that is both “high touch” (concretely helping real people in real time) and “high leverage” (investing in strengthened systems that will benefit many more people).

• An organization focused both on compassion and on “Thinking Big.”

• A commitment to high impact and continuous improvement.

• Humility and a willingness to ‘lead from behind.’

KEY GOALS AND RESPONSIBLITIES

The Vice President  will be the key strategic leader of finance and operations at a time of innovation and growth.  This person will serve as a member of the Foundation’s Leadership Team, which establishes priorities, fosters an environment that enables the Foundation to achieve its goals and carry out its mission and creates a sense of organizational cohesiveness in alignment with organizational values and culture.

Goals:

• Drive best financial practices within the Foundation by internally communicating standard operating procedures, keeping the leadership team, Board and staff up to date on financial status and by generally serving as a point of reference for all growth plans and projects within the Foundation.

• Establish annual priorities and benchmarks and conduct regular reporting, measuring projections against actual performance.

• Keep up with new trends in the financial industry by attending conferences, participating in professional development, and sharing this information with the senior leadership team.

• Build a top-tier internal finance team by actively, training and developing the team, mentoring, and working closely with analysts, consultants, auditors, tax planners and payroll staff.

• Design, plan and implement financial strategies, plans and procedures to ensure successful engagement of the programmatic and strategic goals of the Foundation.

• Oversee the operations of the organization to meet Foundation goals and projections.

• Continually assess and upgrade the Foundation’s approach to internal controls, compliance with accounting standards, and other relevant finance policies and practices.

Responsibilities:

• Establish financial systems, policies, and procedures in alignment with state and federal requirements. Preparation of annual operating budgets, financial reports, and regulatory filings.

• Advise the President and other key foundation leaders on financial planning, budgeting, cash flow, and other financial matters.

• Oversight of the Foundation’s spending/expense management.

• Serve as the key liaison to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.

• Oversee all financial and departmental accounting, including cash flow and forecasting.

• Represent the Foundation externally with peer foundation leadership and other experts in banking and facilities negotiations/management to enhance insights and overall capabilities.

• Oversee the Information Technology and Facilities functions for the Foundation.

• Oversee lease and tenant relationships and work with key outside vendors, auditors, etc.

• Work closely with the Vice President, Talent and Culture to create inspiring, productive space for staff.

• Ensure compliance with all safety standards and codes of the facilities and oversight of building staff.

• Directly implement and oversee maintenance schedules, capital budgets, repair and maintenance budgets, and renovation schedules and budget.

PROFESSIONAL QUALFICATIONS AND PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

The Vice President should ideally embody the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:

• A deep commitment to the vision, mission, and operating values of the Foundation.

• Proven leadership skills in financial analysis and an ability to translate data into strategic tools to enhance workplace performance.

• A record of success serving as the chief financial officer and demonstrated competence with personnel management, team building, and problem solving; More than 15 years’ experience total accounting/finance experience.

• Experience dealing with financial management and operations of programs in low- and middle-income countries.

• Knowledge of Office Suite and Excel and familiarity with software such as Salesforce, etc.

• Demonstrated integrity and leadership in working with and managing budgets, financial forecasting, performance measurement metrics.

• Experience at integrating IT/Systems to improve accounting productivity and accuracy.

• Demonstrated commitment to a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace – expertise in recruiting and directing a diverse staff – building a nimble, collegial, and collaborative team.

• Experience in facilities management.

• Commitment to results; ‘can-do” mindset; outstanding problem-solving ability.

• Experience at change leadership and change management.

• Strong belief in Servant Leadership and demonstrated motivational and staff leadership abilities.

• Excellent analytical, communication and presentation skills.

• Management style that is goal oriented and flexible; that respects the unique individual capabilities of each staff member while providing them with a clear sense of direction.

• Collegial, trustworthy, and possessing the highest level of personal and professional integrity.

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Management, with an MBA and/or CPA – familiarity with philanthropic accounting and audit issues strongly preferred.

COMPENSATION

Compensation for the Vice President, Operations and CFO includes a competitive base salary, and an excellent package of health and employee benefits.

How To Apply

TO BE CONSIDERED
Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter, responding specifically to the experience and qualifications required, to:
Daniel Sherman
President, Explore Company
resumes@explorecompany.com
Refer to Hilton Foundation/VP Operations and CFO in the subject line.
No phone inquiries please.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an equal opportunity employer with values grounded in promoting equality and inclusion and embracing diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, colors, gender identities, sexual orientations, economic classes, ages, religions, national origins, and ability/disability statuses. Veterans and individuals with lived expertise are encouraged to apply. We respect and seek to empower every member of our Foundation community. We support and celebrate our collective array of cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, skills and experiences; fully realizing that such diversity is what makes our organization flourish and better enables us to fulfill our mission in the world.
All correspondence will remain confidential.

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