Position Detail

Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer

Hampshire College invites applications and nominations for the position of Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer.  Among the most innovative liberal arts colleges in the country, Hampshire College was born of the vision of educators who dreamed of a new paradigm for liberal arts education. The founding documents advocated many of the features that have since been realized in the Hampshire curriculum: an emphasis on each student’s interest and motivation; broad, multidisciplinary learning; and close mentoring relationships between faculty and students.  Hampshire opened its doors to its first class of students in 1970. The College now sits on 800 acres of former apple orchards, field, farmland, and woods and includes an organic farm that is used for community supported agriculture and as a living lab.  An independent, not-for-profit institution, Hampshire is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  The College enrolls up to 1400 students and employs a total complement of 129 FTE faculty positions and 289 staff.  Together with Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Hampshire is part of the Five College consortium, which provides students access to thousands of courses, shared resources and services at the participating institutions.

Reporting to the President, the Vice President for Finance and Administration (VPFA) and Treasurer provides vision, leadership, strategic direction and stewardship for all aspects of the College’s financial and administrative resources while ensuring absolute institutional integrity on fiscal and human resources matters.  The VPFA helps to carry out the vision embodied in the College’s strategic plan and serves as a strategic advisor to the President, Board of Trustees, and other senior leaders in recommending financial and administrative objectives, policies, programs and practices that ensure a sound financial structure for the College.   The VPFA works collaboratively to plan the operating and capital budgets and develop a long-term sustainable economic and business model that ensures the viability of the College and its ability to carry out its strategic plan.  The VPFA sits on the President’s Leadership team and oversees and provides leadership to an organization that includes all aspects of budget, business and financial services, finance and administrative systems, facilities services and campus planning, human resources, information technology, environmental health and safety, compliance and risk management, with responsibility for a total of 95 FTE staff. 

Hampshire College seeks a collaborative leader and experienced manager with the skills and talent needed to develop and execute plans to enhance the fiscal sustainability of the College and to manage change within a diverse environment.  The VPFA will be passionate about Hampshire’s mission, approach, and core values of intellectual rigor, social justice, and sustainability, and embrace the sensibility embodied in its motto, Non Satis Scire (To Know is Not Enough).  The VPFA must have the capacity for inclusive leadership, participatory process, and transparent engagement, and be an excellent communicator with superb listening skills, open to incorporating feedback and critique.  The VPFA will be an innovator willing to take informed risks that are aligned with the College’s mission, responsive to the ideas of others, hands-on, approachable, a visible and accessible presence within the campus community, yet able to delegate and forge a strong and collaborative team.  The successful candidate will possess at least 15 years in progressively responsible financial and administrative leadership roles in a complex environment, preferably within higher education or other mission-driven organization; demonstrated ability to develop budget policy and align programmatic priorities with current and future financial resources; a proven record of using modeling and statistical methods for financial planning, analysis and forecasting; an understanding of financial instruments, a reasonable level of sophistication about investments, and experience with capital markets; and a broad understanding of the management of real estate, land use, human resources, information technology, and outsourced vendor relationships; excellent strategic thinking skills and strong communication skills; and appreciation for the out-of-the-box thinking, spirited inquiry and debate, and irreverence that are part of the Hampshire experience.  An MBA or other appropriate advanced degree is preferred.

Nominations, inquiries, and applications (including a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and the names of five references) should be directed electronically in confidence to HampshireVPFA@divsearch.com.

Kim M. Morrisson, Ph.D. Senior Managing Director
Manuel A. Gongon, Jr., Principal
Diversified Search
2005 Market Street, Suite 3300, Philadelphia, PA  19103
215.656.3588

Hampshire College is an Equal Opportunity institution, committed to diversity in education and employment.

For additional information, please consult the College’s website at http://www.hampshire.edu.

Hampshire College is an equal opportunity institution, committed to diversity and inclusion in education and employment.