Business Situation:

The client is a nonprofit museum dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 and currently has a collection of more than 50,000 glass objects, some over 3,500 years old.

The client’s Sr. Manager of Finance/Controller for the past 15 years recently gave notice but agreed to stay on for a part-time basis (as needed) for 3 additional months. The Sr Manager of Finance/Controller oversaw both the accounting and controllership function as well as the FP&A function, serving as finance liaison to other departments and functions within the organization. The long-term plan was to cross train the current staff to keep up with the day-to-day while searching for a full-time replacement.

As a result, the client engaged ProNexus exclusively to perform a Retained Search Project for a Controller.

ProNexus Solution:

ProNexus was engaged by the client to assess the current finance team, review financial policies, processes, and procedures and to recommend changes as needed. As part of our due diligence review, ProNexus recommended the client needed someone who had a strong background in accounting and that they should look for a Controller and separate the FP&A duties due to workload.   

In order to start the Search Project, ProNexus performed additional due diligence which resulted in the development of the Client, Department, and Position Profiles. With these profiles, we captured the company’s culture, differentiators, organizational structure, management & communication style, challenges, systems, and reporting requirements. In addition, we captured position background, priorities, time allocation, challenges, and compensation & benefits.

As a result of the unique ProNexus process, we were able to provide five candidates to the client within four weeks of kicking off the Search Project.  The candidate that was hired came from a background in non-profit and was the CFO for a small non-profit in the area.  The candidate’s strengths included 20 years of hands-on accounting. , leading a team of 3 FTEs accountable for month end close, audit readiness, AP/AR and financial statement preparation. The candidate’s expertise was instantly impactful and since hired, processes have been streamlined and procedures documented.