A top ranked higher education executive search firm, Harris Search Associates is a leading national firm in the field of higher education, research, and academic medicine senior Finance and Administration searches and have successfully conducted over 900 executive search assignments on behalf of the foremost research and comprehensive universities, research parks, academic medical centres, hospital systems, and organizations driving global innovation. 

Each year we conduct a number of Chief Financial Officer and senior finance and administration executive search assignments for a variety of institutions.  We are clear what is required of today’s successful Chief Financial Officer/Senior Finance and Administration leader at a major academic enterprise and have witnessed first-hand these leaders in action, tackling strategic, complex capital planning transactions, debt management, and establishing internal processes for mitigating risk while effectively providing invaluable counsel to university leadership and governing boards in an environment of increasing public scrutiny.  

Now more than ever, in our opinion, Senior Finance and Administration leaders must inextricably be linked to the strategic operations of an institution.  Attracting a senior leader capable of managing: the complex campus relationships, facilities, real estate, risk management, research compliance concerns, environmental safety, investments, extension services, finances as well as the public, private, and philanthropic community while positioning the institution to carry out its core mission of sponsored research, teaching, and discovery is now of paramount importance.   And increasingly, the Office of Finance and Administration must contend with the issues of rising healthcare costs, university-wide focus on retention versus enrolment management, better uses of metric data for decision-making, the dependence of reallocated dollars versus new revenue, and the challenges of increased dependence of debt financing for new projects.

As such, we continue to track the next generation of emerging academic talent and are known and trusted by the national leaders Chief Financial Officer/Senior Finance and Administration search committees hope to attract.  This is then complemented by an active research and recruitment strategy to ensure a robust, diverse candidate pool is presented for review, and the assignment is successfully completed efficiently.