Budget decisions can change which programs move forward, where positions are added or cut, and what students experience on campus. That means presidents, boards, and campus leaders need to understand more than the final numbers.
Our speakers make complex financial issues easier for leadership, boards, and campus teams to understand and discuss together.
Jessica Ryals
CEO and Owner, CFO Colleague
Jessica has worked in the Controller’s seat and now leads CFO Colleague. She speaks about the financial questions institutions cannot solve with accounting alone: how to build a viable business model, prepare future leaders, and make budget decisions people across campus can understand. She is also the author of The Confident Campus Controller.
Scott brings experience as an interim CFO and operations leader to conversations about budgets, institutional performance, and the work of putting decisions into practice. He helps audiences see which measures deserve attention and how staffing, processes, and resources affect an institution’s ability to carry out its plans.
Association of Business Administrators of Christian Colleges
Ohio Association of College and University Business Officers
Joint Speaking Topics
These past presentations show the range of questions Jessica and Scott can bring into focus.
Managing a Viable Business Model
What makes an institution’s business model viable? Examine the measures that reveal where it stands, what its assumptions require, and how to explain the implications to campus leaders and trustees.
That HR Stuff
For finance and operations leaders who find HR questions on their desks, this session considers the staffing, policy, and people decisions that cannot simply be handed off.
Function First: Evaluating Institutional Resources
Start with the work the institution needs done, then examine how staffing, spending, and processes support it. This offers a way to evaluate resources without making the existing organization chart the starting point.
Stress-Free Audit: Preparing All Year for a Smooth Year-End
Replace the year-end scramble with a year-round approach to records, reconciliations, and deadlines that helps the business office arrive at audit season prepared.
Optimizing Operations: Bust the Bottlenecks
Find the handoffs, approvals, and routines that slow work down, then identify practical ways to give people more capacity for the work that needs them.
Personal Life of a Leader
An exploration of how a leader’s values, commitments, and life beyond work shape the way they serve an institution.
The “New” Zero-Based Budget: Ratios to Drive Institutional Performance
Use ratios to challenge inherited budget assumptions and connect resource decisions to the institution’s current size, priorities, and performance.
Need Help Choosing the Right Topic?
Tell us who will be in the room and what they need to better understand. We can recommend a topic or develop a session around the financial and operational challenges most relevant to your audience.
