Chief Financial Officer

About The Richard L. Duchossois Foundation

The Richard L. Duchossois Foundation (RLD) was founded in 2017 and launched formal operations in 2023. The Foundation is committed to addressing seemingly intractable social problems with imagination and passion. We strive to improve the lives of families and veterans, and to cultivate entrepreneurs through data driven and collaborative approaches to funding. We seek to practice philanthropy with rigor and from a place of listening and strive to be a learning organization – to always seek greater understanding of our funding priorities. While our home and our priority is the Chicago region, we may consider national efforts that are aligned with our mission, values and goals.

Learn more about The Richard L. Duchossois Foundation at https://www.rldfoundation.org/.  

The Opportunity

The Richard L. Duchossois Foundation (RLD) seeks a Chief Financial Officer, the foundation’s top financial position, with responsibilities including overall financial management, budgeting and reporting, formulating financial policies and procedures, maintaining a system of internal controls, producing financial statements, treasury operations, tax matters, financial audits, insurance, and interfacing with the Foundation’s investment advisory firm and investment managers. The CFO will eventually lead a team of two direct reports and work closely with the Executive Director and other Foundation team members, including program managers and data management and analytics professionals.

A critical part of the CFO’s responsibilities will be overseeing the Foundation’s investments, which currently approximate $600 million. Direct management of the investment operations are outsourced to an outside firm under a discretionary investment management contract, but the CFO must possess substantive experience with large-scale institutional investment management, including asset allocation, performance analysis, cash flow and valuation projections, and investment manager selection.

The successful candidate will be excited about designing an organizational financial strategy that consistently drives increasing philanthropic investment to produce social and community outcomes within the Foundation’s philanthropic focus areas.

The CFO will be responsible for developing RLD Foundation’s long-term vision and financial strategy. The CFO will set a proactive budget and investment agenda that fuels RLD Foundation as a philanthropic leader. The CFO provides consultation on long-range financial forecasting for the Executive Director and Board and ensures that the Foundations’ system of internal controls safeguards the Foundation’s assets.

The CFO develops and manages key relationships with independent auditors, professional advisors, investment managers, and the Board of Directors.

The CFO will be responsible for the hiring, training and management of a Controller as well as a Grants Manager, whose primary roles are to support the organization’s day-to-day operations and year-over-year grantmaking, respectively.

The CFO is a results driven, proactive individual who maintains high standards of personal integrity and is able to balance "analysis" with "doing." The successful candidate will possess a blend of financial, strategic, and political acumen; be able to establish productive partnerships; have the ability to influence and resolve differences across organizational boundaries; be an adept public speaker; and gain support and commitment from others without formal authority.