B.E. Smith Seeks CFO for Ohio-Based Fairfield Medical Center

October 28, 2020 – Healthcare-focused B.E. Smith has been enlisted to find a new chief financial officer for Fairfield Medical Center, an independent, not-for-profit, community-based health system in Lancaster, OH. Senior executive consultant. The previous CFO, Sky Gettys, announced early this year that he would be retiring after nearly 20 years with the organization.

As a key member of the senior leadership team and reporting to the chief executive officer, the CFO will be expected to provide the vision, leadership, direction and administration of financial systems and strategy for the health system, said B.E. Smith. The individual will be charged with working to maximize financial resources and preserving and protecting the long-term financial integrity of Fairfield Medical Center.

Key Requirements

Candidates must have a master’s degree (MBA, MHA or equivalent), said the search firm. The ideal candidate will be an experienced financial executive with seven to 10 years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare finance or have the equivalent combination of education and experience.

Prospects should have experience working in an independent community hospital setting. A background in development and deployment of reimbursement/payer strategies is also needed. Candidates should also have a history of operational finance reporting, decision support, strategic planning and emerging business models, and revenue cycle.

Fairfield Medical Center is an independent community-based health system serving a southeast central Ohio population of more than 600,000. With more than 2,000 employees, the medical center is the region’s largest employer. The hospital is a 245-licensed-bed facility that offers a wide variety of services which includes emergency and surgical services and comprehensive care in numerous specialty areas.

Veteran Recruiters

Founded in 1978, Lenexa, KS-based B.E. Smith is a full-service healthcare interim leadership placement and executive search firm. For nearly a decade, the organization has been recognized annually by Modern Healthcare as one of the top search firms in its sector. The firm places interim leaders and executives across all healthcare settings, including acute care hospitals, academic medical and children’s hospitals, physician practices and post-acute care providers.

Among its past searches B.E. Smith has helped to place the president and CEO for the Washington Permanente Medical Group, CEO for Rochelle (IL) Community Hospital and group chief financial officer for Bon Secours Mercy Health.

CFOs for Non-Profits

For corporate finance executives who want to de-stress their lives, moving into the non-profit world is one obvious avenue. But a new report by professional services firm BDO USA pointed out that some of the issues they would face there might remind them of their for-profit jobs. For one, their fellow C-suiters may not fully appreciate some of the challenges that CFOs face. Non-profit CFOs are much more attuned to the difficulty of dealing with regulatory and legislative changes.

Related: TillmanPartners Finds CFO for Evolv Technology

Like their for-profit counterparts, non-profit CFOs have also been tasked with assessing the impact of the new tax-reform law, implementing the necessary changes and determining the most beneficial tax strategies going forward. They were also involved in implementing accounting changes for revenue recognition and leasing arrangements. Finally, the CFOs were somewhat less concerned about cybersecurity than were the others. Exactly half of the former respondents, but 57 percent of the latter, said it’s a high or moderate challenge for non-profits’ boards.


As CFOs Gain in Stature, Succession Plans to Replace Them Falter
As with all things in the business world, the role of a CFO has evolved over the past 10 years. Gone are the days of the CFO being the top accountant focused on the timely and accurate recording of transactions to generate a set of financial…


BDO appeared to lightly criticize the finance chiefs for not taking cybersecurity seriously enough, saying that “CFOs could be overlooking tech-related challenges.”

“While information technology is often not under [non-profit] CFOs’ immediate responsibilities,” BDO said in its survey report, “the security of financial technology systems — including donor databases — is a crucial element of a non-profit’s overall cyber hygiene.

“Anecdotally,” the report said, “protecting organizations from cyber threats is consistently on board agendas. A CFO’s role might primarily live within the organization’s finance arm, but as veterans of the non-profit space know well, an effective leader in the dynamic non-profit world is a jack of all trades.”

Related: Acertitude Lands New CFO for Binary Tree

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

Share This Article

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments