Venor Seeking CFO for Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia
November 9, 2022 – Halifax, Nova Scotia-based executive search firm Venor has been selected by Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) to lead in its search for a new CFO. Shardeigh McGillivray is leading the assignment.
The CFO is responsible for providing strategic leadership for the organization by working with the senior executive and operational executive teams to establish long-range strategies, goals and policies, along with providing leadership and management to finance, IT, support services and facilities and corporate administration. The CFO is responsible for supporting the vision and mission of ISANS and the implementation of ISANS strategic plan.
As the successful candidate, a chartered professional accountant (CPA) designation is required plus 10 years’ related experience, with a minimum of five years of relevant management experience. A master’s degree in business administration, commerce, or finance, is considered an asset. The search firm also notes that candidates should have experience working with multiple funders, funding agreements, and agencies, preferably within a non-profit organization. Candidates must also bring demonstrated strong problem-solving and decision-making skills to the table, along with proven experience leading multi-faceted and diverse teams.
The ideal candidate will have a good understanding of IT principles and best practices, along with a good understanding of contract management principles, according to Venor. Candidates should also have knowledge of human resource practices and policies and experience working with diverse stakeholders and partners. They should have exceptional communication skills, both oral and written, and the proven ability to motivate and inspire others in fulfilling the team’s goals and objectives. Prior experience working in the not-for-profit sector is also a plus.
Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia is the leading immigrant settlement service agency in Atlantic Canada, serving 9,000 clients annually in 104 communities across Nova Scotia, through many kinds of services—language, settlement, community integration, and employment—both in person and online.
Venor was founded by Ian Sullivan and Craig Coady in 2012 and celebrated its 10-year anniversary in March. Wayne Crawley, Shardeigh McGillivray, Erika Hildebrand, and Nick Misener are the firm’s other equity partners. The firm has other offices in Dartmouth, Moncton, and St. John’s.
Ms. McGillivray brings professionalism, dedication, and an engaging personality to the Venor team. Since joining the recruitment industry in 2009, she has worked for both global and regional recruitment and executive search firms. Ms. McGillivray has gained extensive recruitment experience across all sectors and industries at the managerial, director, and executive level.
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.
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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.
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 onboard 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.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
