Chief Financial Officer

For immediate consideration, send resume and cover letter to:

Rosemary Gantz,
National Search Director,
r.gantz@stantonchase.com.

Reports to: CEO

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Children International (CI) is entering an important and energizing new chapter — building on nearly 90 years of global impact while continuing to evolve how it serves children, families, and communities around the world. Guided by a bold strategic vision and deep belief in human potential, the organization is focused on expanding opportunity and long-term outcomes for children and youth living in poverty.

To support this next era, CI is seeking a strategic, forward looking, operationally grounded, mission-driven and enterprise-minded Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to serve as a critical partner to the President & CEO and Executive Leadership Team.

This is far more than a traditional finance leadership role. It is an opportunity to help shape the future operating and financial model of a respected global nonprofit organization while directly contributing to life-changing outcomes for children worldwide.

The next CFO will help translate vision into possibility - surfacing business opportunities to transform the lives of even more children, elevating the capabilities and value add of the finance and data analytics teams, and smartly managing enterprise risk.

The organization is financially healthy and well-positioned today, but the future requires a leader who brings strong business judgment, operational finance leadership, global perspective, and financial strategies.

This role calls for a hands-on and collaborative executive who is equally comfortable discussing enterprise strategy with the Board, supporting operational leaders, evaluating risk, strengthening financial planning and analytics capabilities, and helping teams make smarter, data-informed decisions. The ideal candidate will be humble, curious, and have a genuine passion for CI’s mission. For the right leader, this is a rare opportunity to move from success to significance — helping architect the next chapter of a global organization committed to unleashing the potential of children and youth worldwide.

About Children International

Founded in 1936, Children International has spent nine decades helping children and youth in various capacities. Today, the organization serves communities across multiple countries through programs focused on health, education, empowerment through life skill development, employment, and family support — helping young people develop the confidence, skills, and opportunities needed to create lasting change in their own lives and communities.

Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, CI is recognized for its long-term community relationships, operational discipline, stewardship mindset, and commitment to measurable impact. The organization combines the heart of a mission-driven nonprofit with a thoughtful, forward-looking approach to innovation, accountability, and organizational effectiveness.

Children International stands as a vital organization that connects people around the world in the fight to end poverty. Our significance can be attributed to several key factors:

We live the mission: We see and cultivate potential in children, volunteers, colleagues, and partners. We focus relentlessly on high-value outcomes for children and youth, the experience of our donors, and the stewardship of our resources. We are flexible, resilient and adaptable.
We invest in human connection: We take personal responsibility to build trust, speak with courage, and repair trust when it’s broken. We foster belonging by creating inclusive spaces and embracing diverse perspectives. We embrace teamwork and collaborate across teams to serve one mission.
We own the impact: We have a bias for action, continuous learning and progress. We empower local leadership and build community ownership. We hold ourselves accountable for delivering aligned results and we celebrate our progress.

For more information, visit: Learn About Us.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting directly to the President & CEO, the CFO will serve as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and oversee all core areas of the global finance function, including financial planning and analysis, other data analytics, controllership, treasury, audit, compliance, risk management, budgeting, reporting, legal oversight, and financial operations. This also includes our CU&I Team (Constituent Understanding and Insights team) which is made up of four data scientists who support our fundraising teams, our field operations teams and all complex modeling.

More importantly, this leader will help strengthen the organization’s enterprise financial capabilities for the future — helping CI think differently about financial planning, operational effectiveness, growth strategy, resource allocation, and long-term sustainability.

The CFO will help leadership teams better understand tradeoffs, investment decisions, operating priorities, and the financial implications of strategic choices across a globally complex organization.

The successful candidate will bring the ability to:

Lead finance as an enterprise business partner — not simply a functional department.
Build stronger financial planning, modeling, and analytical capabilities across the organization.
Help leadership teams evaluate investments, growth opportunities, operational priorities, and long-term sustainability.
Re-imagine the business through the lens of AI introducing automation and digital tools and can strengthen efficiency and insight.
Support enterprise risk management across a complex global operating environment.
Build trust and credibility across a wide range of stakeholders through calm leadership, sound judgment, high value add contributions and strong communication.
Strengthen finance team capabilities, alignment, and succession planning while fostering accountability, curiosity, and continuous improvement.

The CFO will lead a global finance organization of approximately 15 team members, including four direct reports, and will serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO, Board, and finance committee.

This role offers a hybrid work arrangement, combining remote work with frequent monthly trips to the company offices in Kansas City, Missouri. In addition, there will be some international trips each year as well as travel to other selected meetings and events.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE & LEADERSHIP PROFILE

Candidates who combine strong commercial or operational finance experience with authentic mission alignment will be particularly compelling.

The ideal candidate will bring:

Significant senior financial leadership experience of an operating division or business unit, including prior CFO or VP Finance leadership responsibility.
Strong operational finance and business leadership capabilities, including ownership of budgeting, forecasting, planning, and analytics.
Experience operating within globally complex organizations across multiple regions, markets, or operating environments is preferred.
The ability to combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution and practical problemsolving.
Experience modernizing financial systems, analytics, reporting capabilities, and operational processes.
A leadership style that is humble, collaborative, emotionally intelligent, and highly accountable.
Skill and experience working with executive teams, boards, audit committees, and crossfunctional operating leaders.
Curiosity, resilience, and the confidence to thoughtfully challenge conventional thinking when needed.
A genuine connection to CI’s mission and desire to contribute to meaningful global impact.

TOTAL REWARDS

We are making a visible and meaningful impact in the world that you can measure. We are a successful business that happens to be in the non-profit sector – and that means a huge focus on outcomes.

In addition, you get to be part of: