Chief Financial & Operating Officer

Healthcare spending accounts for around 18% of the US GDP. When you or a family member falls ill or experiences an accident, everyone desires the best care and outcomes available. The number of errors that occur annually in the US healthcare system is overwhelming. While the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) began to support healthcare quality professionals over 40 years ago, during the last decade NAHQ has emerged as the leader in the healthcare quality discipline. 

Our work is rapidly changing and expanding. In the last 10 years, NAHQ has quadrupled in revenue while adding certifications, organizational (B2B) product and service offerings, micro-credentials, and team training. We’re only getting started.  

Healthcare quality has been recognized on the national stage. Recently NAHQ’s CEO was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Health Magazine. Our future includes joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and expanded B2B offerings. You will be leading the team through uncharted territories.  While we hold non-profit tax status, we operate like a mission-focused scaling start-up.  

NAHQ seeks a Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFOO) to build a scalable operational infrastructure that supports our growth. As a forward-thinking leader, you will work to build and optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of our people, technology, and business processes. 

You will head our Finance, Accounting, Portfolio Delivery, Information Technology, Legal, Facilities, Procurement, and Human Resources functions with a focus on financial sustainability, operational excellence, and growth.  

NAHQ’s headquarters are conveniently located in Chicago near O’Hare with easy access to the Blue Line and expressways. The role is hybrid with occasional travel.

Essential Functions: 

As a member of the ELT, you will collaborate to create a clear vision and strategic plan for NAHQ and build and lead operations to ensure organizational goals and growth objectives are met.  

Directly head and manage the following functions and teams: F&A, IT, HR, Legal, Procurement, and Facilities. 

Influence and lead change throughout the organization: the board, ELT, overall employee base, and your team. 

Through the intersection of NAHQ’s processes, systems, culture, training, and coaching, ensure staff is empowered and motivated to deliver quality work in a timely and efficient manner which delivers results to our members and customers while serving NAHQ’s mission. 

Create clear and realistic profitability goals through dynamic budgeting and forecasting. Through the lens focused on the NAHQ’s financial health, operational scalability, and legal and regulatory compliance, you will proactively identify opportunities, communicate risks to leadership, create action plans, and implement solutions or improvements. 

Optimize product delivery through effective automation balance with talented professionals to ensure an excellent customer experience while maintaining operational sustainability. 

In collaboration with the CEO, identify opportunities to access and secure funding to support expanded product offerings and delivery channels. Manage the cash forecast and reserves wisely – balancing short & long-term objectives – which can become complex when scaling. Under board guidance, manage NAHQ’s investments. NAHQ has been self-funded to date.   

Build an organizational culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement. Communicate goals, budgets, forecasts, and variances. Take the lead, while encouraging the entire team, to seek opportunities to improve operational efficiency through training, automation, process improvement, standardization, and more. 

Serve as the management liaison to the finance and audit committee of the board; effectively communicate and presenting critical financial matters at select board of directors and committee meetings. Oversees the accounting function to ensure accuracy of records. 

Manage and continuously approve appropriate systems, policies, internal controls, accounting standards, and procedures to support the operational and financial integrity of NAHQ. Act as the liason with the external accounting firm and auditors. 

Proactively build and maintain subject matter expertise across a wide breadth of topics relevant to your role including, but not limited to: GAAP, laws, healthcare industry regulation, technology innovations, and change management best practices. Model intellectual curiosity, learning agility, critical thinking, and proactive problem solving – aka an entrepreneur’s mindset – to the entire staff.  

Skills and experience that NAHQ values:  

• Demonstrated success in providing strategic leadership and hands-on operational execution of a growing organization  

• Effective at working in fast-paced environments and bouncing back and forth between strategy and execution – bringing your high energy, ability to juggle multiple priorities, and operational excellence expertise  

• Experience leading the Finance function for a scaling organization. Financial modeling and FP&A for B2B products, B2B professional services, and B2C offerings, especially those with an intellectual property component is helpful.  

• Analytical leader and problem solver with the ability to ensure appropriate financial and operational goals are identified and achieved. A focus on creating operational excellence and clear OKR/KPI ownership. Success at influencing and leading improvements across people, processes, and technology potentially within a structured framework (Six Sigma, Lean, TQM, Agile, change management).  

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business or relevant field; an MBA is strongly preferred 

You’ll need to bring many of these and develop the rest quickly: 

• Experience working with and presenting to a board and/or exceptional communication skills 

• Previous experience successfully leading the accounting function or knowledge of the accounting function and a plan of action for how to rapidly close and manage the gaps in your subject matter expertise in GAAP, internal controls, internal & external audits, across the Income statement, General Ledger, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement. CPA helpful. 

• Experience consulting to, working at, or auditing a non-profit or association 

• Excellent track record in managing vendor relationships and contracts, including creating an effective balance of in-house talent with external expertise to allow for organizational agility while managing capital judiously 

• Subject Matter Expertise and/or a passion for improving healthcare quality and supporting healthcare systems and healthcare quality professionals 

• Treasury experience including some or all: capital and cash management, cash flow forecasting, and creating access to capital through banking relationships, government or private grants, VC debt funding.  

• Record of success supporting effective portfolio delivery including customer service – managing for both customer satisfaction (NPS) and operational efficiencies. 

• Knowledge of intellectual property including copyright protection, amortization, structuring partnerships, and distribution channel diversification. 

• Experience leading legal, working with outside counsel, and/or the critical thinking necessary to manage contract management (both partnership and vendor), employment law issues, and risk/compliance for a growing business 

• Technology savvy including data management.

• Previous experience leading or working closely with IT (ERP – Sage Intaact, Salesforce, Nimble, etc.) 

• Effective at data visualization using Excel, Tableau, or PowerBI 

Note: This job posting is conversational and informal in tone. The healthcare industry and our primary stakeholders, quality professionals, are structured, process-oriented, and often formal in nature. We are happy to share the job description for this role upon request. 
  

NAHQ is an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. We hire without regard to age, color, disability, gender (including gender identity), marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.