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ABOUT:

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is the “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” (Los Angeles Times) and a vibrant cultural treasure. Hailed for its powerful performances, technical precision, and artistic daring, the Chorale is led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director; and President & CEO Scott Altman.

Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choir-in-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Chorister positions are highly sought after, and the fully professional choir is a diverse and vocally dynamic group.

The Master Chorale reaches over 175,000 people a year through its concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, its international touring of innovative works, and its performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others. Beyond its live performances, the Master Chorale reaches a wider audience through its extensive Grammy™ Award-winning discography.

Committed to increasing representation in the choral repertoire, the Master Chorale announced in 2020 that it will reserve at least 50 percent of each future season for works by composers from historically excluded groups. This commitment to inclusion runs through the entire organization, which recently ratified a five-year plan that commits to improving representation at the staff and board levels, continuing to build a more diverse roster of singers, and reaching a wider audience.

The Master Chorale’s education programs include Voice Within residencies that encourage students to write and perform their own songs, and an expansive Oratorio Project for high school students. The Master Chorale also presents and annual High School Choir Festival, which brings teenagers from around the Southland to perform in Walt Disney Concert Hall

To learn more, visit www.lamasterchorale.org.  

Mission

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is an independent and innovative professional vocal ensemble that shares the traditional and evolving spectrum of choral music with the widest possible audience. We advance our mission through performance, community education, collaboration, commissioning, and recording.

Vision

We envision a world in which choral music is a conduit for belonging, a vehicle for participation in the arts, and a means for understanding and exploring commonalities and differences.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale strives to be a leader in engaging the diverse individuals and communities that make up Los Angeles, our home. Over the next three to five years, the Chorale will focus on using the transformative power of choral music to engage and to inspire more people in Los Angeles, and around the world, with greater impact.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is well-positioned to benefit from a strategic, savvy and collaborative finance professional as its next Chief Financial Officer/Vice President of Finance (CFO). The ideal candidate for this role will bring a track record of senior finance and accounting leadership, exceptional communication skills and an appreciation for the arts. The CFO will be joining a highly collaborative and collegial leadership team and will have the opportunity to contribute to conversations about critical institutional issues that have a lasting impact on the organization while also leading a finance and administration operation that effectively supports the immediate and long-term ambitions of the organization. The Master Chorale’s current operating budget is $8.1 million, and it has 20 full-time employees, though it routinely issues more than 300 W-2s, indicating how many unionized, part-time employees the organization employs.

Reporting to the President & CEO, the CFO plays a key role in strategy development, financial management and cash/liquidity management, as well as serving as the organization’s principal human resources officer. The CFO supervises the Controller and Staff Accountant and works closely with the senior management team to provide analytical support for strategic initiatives, regular reporting of actual outcomes versus budgeted expectations and, when required, helps find a problem-resolution pathway when adverse trends are being experienced. The CFO is the primary management interface with the Finance Committee and the Audit Committee, and is a staff representative on other standing Board committees.

The CFO must exhibit independent judgment as to the feasibility of achieving strategic objectives, including determining the long-term resources needed to launch and sustain such initiatives. The CFO must also apply independent judgment as to the likely budgetary outcome as each fiscal year progresses, taking into account favorable and unfavorable trends, and the cash and liquidity implications of any change in outlook. The organization has significant cash-flow ebbs and flows during the annual business cycle, so the CFO must maintain forward-looking cash projections to ensure resources are available to meet payment obligations.

The CFO must be conversant in California labor law and ensure that employment policies and practices are in compliance therewith. The organization uses Jackson Lewis as outside legal counsel for labor matters. The CFO is tasked with ensuring that these policies and practices are also consistent with the organization’s desired cultural characteristics. When called upon to address conflict and facilitate difficult conversations, the CFO must be viewed as a neutral and objective participant in the conflict resolution process. 

Essential Duties, Responsibilities, Functions:

Strategic/Executive:

• Ensure the prudent and responsible management of LAMC’s financial assets and provide strategic recommendations to the President & CEO and senior leadership team on operational, legal, and financial issues as they arise.
• Participate in the strategic planning process as an integral member of the senior leadership team.
• Ensure that the economic impacts of new strategic initiatives are fully understood and that funding sources have been identified prior to launch to ensure sustainability.
• Oversee annual and multi-year business planning and budgeting, ensure that budgets are realistic (not aspirational) and monitor progress with operational metrics and financial updates at regular intervals. 

Financial Management:

• Prepare and present timely and accurate financial reporting materials for LAMC’s President & CEO, Finance Committee, Board of Directors, and funding organizations (as appropriate) including financial statements and analytical reports on a frequency that matches the organization’s business cycle activity.
• Supervise accounting closing processes, assuring that financial record systems are maintained in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Create accurate cash and liquidity forecasting and manage short- and long-term cash flow on an ongoing basis.
• Manage all project-based and departmental financial reporting, including reconciling gift revenue with the Advancement Department and ticket sale revenue with the Marketing Department.
• Maintain accounting for endowment funds to meet requirements for donor reporting. Advise senior staff on terms and conditions of significant business contracts and maintain electronic filing of all contractual documents. 

Controls & Compliance:

• Review and develop finance procedures and processes, and make recommendations for increased efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assure legal compliance with all local, state, and federal tax filings and annual reporting regulations.
• Coordinate all audit activities.

Human Resources:

• As the principal human resources officer for the organization, oversee all HR functions.
• Provide advice and guidance to staff with regard to conflict and performance-issue resolution.
• Participate in collective-bargaining negotiations, as needed.
• Maintain an employee policy manual that supports the Master Chorale’s cultural objectives and is in compliance with federal and state labor laws.
• Ensure that finance department operating procedures with regard to payroll and benefits administration are in accordance with California labor laws and collective bargaining agreements.

Relationship Management:

• Manage the relationship with independent accountants and tax professionals.
• Serve as primary contact and relationship administrator with commercial banks.
• Manage insurance broker relationship.
• Oversee the consortium arrangement that provides box office and customer-relationship-management platform support.
• Manage relationship with Information Services technology firm.

DESIRED TRAITS & QUALIFICATIONS:

The ideal candidate:

• Is a highly organized, analytical, and goal-oriented leader with superior conceptual thinking, planning, and problem-solving abilities
• Demonstrates the judgment to ensure that the mission is advanced at a pace and scale that is prudent
• Has deep experience in finance and accounting
• Is immensely creative in finding ways to communicate complex financial concepts to audiences with varying levels of financial expertise 
• Is a systematic and practical person with strong intellectual curiosity
• Has strong data analysis and financial modeling skills, with an ability to identify the drivers and variables that affect outcomes
• Takes an objective, even-handed and solutions-oriented approach to problem identification in the organization and provides alternatives for resolving such problems
• Has the ability to develop, monitor, and follow policies and procedures balanced by the motivation to be of service to a variety of mission-focused stakeholders
• Demonstrates – through thought and action – accuracy, transparency and insight in presenting financial reports and analysis
• Seeks constantly to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the organization, while ensure that the organization is properly resourced to successfully executive its programmatic objectives

Competitive candidates will bring a combination of the following qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree with a track record of excellence in a senior financial management role, including as a team leader
• Expertise in the nonprofit, for-profit sectors, or hybrid business models
• Technical skills should include:

1. nonprofit financial reporting
2. hands-on experience with automated accounting systems
3. experience with a customer-relationship-management system is a plus
4. familiarity with California labor laws
5. strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly with respect to financial-modelling tools

• MBA is preferred, but not required

COMPENSATION, WORK HOURS AND LOCATION:

The annual salary range for this position is $175,000 to $215,000 plus generous benefits and respected work life balance.

The CFO is based in the Master Chorale’s office at The Music Center in Los Angeles, with the ability to work remotely two days per week.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, the Los Angeles Master Chorale complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.