What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chief Financial Officer position at Missouri Botanical Garden?
The Missouri Botanical Garden, a National Historic Landmark and one of the world’s leading botanical institutions, seeks an experienced and strategic Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to join its executive leadership team during a transformative period in its history.
Founded in 1859, the Garden’s mission, “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life” drives its global leadership in plant science, conservation, sustainability, and education. With over 79 acres of curated gardens, a world-renowned herbarium, and three additional properties—the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, Shaw Nature Reserve and Litzsinger Rd Ecology Center—the Garden serves more than one million visitors annually as a cultural icon in our community, as well as engaging in research and conservation efforts across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In 2025, the Garden welcomed Dr. Lúcia G. Lohmann as its new President and Director. A globally respected botanist and conservationist, Dr. Lohmann brings a collaborative leadership style and a bold vision for expanding the Garden’s scientific and cultural impact. Her appointment marks a new era of innovation, inclusion, and global and local engagement.
As CFO, you will play a pivotal role in supporting this vision by ensuring the Garden’s financial health, sustainability, and strategic growth. You will work closely with the Garden's President and Director, Board of Trustees, and senior leadership to steward resources, optimize operations, and align financial strategy with the Garden’s evolving priorities. This executive leadership role ensures the Garden’s financial health and sustainability, aligning fiscal operations with its mission-driven goals. The CFO oversees finance, accounting, investments, risk management, and compliance, and serves as a key advisor to the President and Board of Trustees.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Institutional Financial Leadership and Collaboration
Founded in 1859, the Garden’s mission, “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life” drives its global leadership in plant science, conservation, sustainability, and education. With over 79 acres of curated gardens, a world-renowned herbarium, and three additional properties—the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, Shaw Nature Reserve and Litzsinger Rd Ecology Center—the Garden serves more than one million visitors annually as a cultural icon in our community, as well as engaging in research and conservation efforts across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In 2025, the Garden welcomed Dr. Lúcia G. Lohmann as its new President and Director. A globally respected botanist and conservationist, Dr. Lohmann brings a collaborative leadership style and a bold vision for expanding the Garden’s scientific and cultural impact. Her appointment marks a new era of innovation, inclusion, and global and local engagement.
As CFO, you will play a pivotal role in supporting this vision by ensuring the Garden’s financial health, sustainability, and strategic growth. You will work closely with the Garden's President and Director, Board of Trustees, and senior leadership to steward resources, optimize operations, and align financial strategy with the Garden’s evolving priorities. This executive leadership role ensures the Garden’s financial health and sustainability, aligning fiscal operations with its mission-driven goals. The CFO oversees finance, accounting, investments, risk management, and compliance, and serves as a key advisor to the President and Board of Trustees.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Institutional Financial Leadership and Collaboration
- In collaboration with the President, co construct and implement a successful long-term financial strategy to support the Garden’s mission and strategic plan.
- Serve as a strategic advisor and partner to the President, Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership team on financial matters.
- Collaborate with senior leadership in the annual budget and financial planning process with programmatic and operational priorities.
- Lead multi-year financial planning, scenario modeling and capital planning.
- Champion interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and with external partners in support of programmatic and operational goals.
- Partner with Development, Horticulture, Education, and Science teams to align financial planning with mission delivery.
- Maintains and builds trusted relationships with key partners and stakeholders, both internal and external.
- Functions as liaison with financial institutions on behalf of the Garden; conducts negotiations for lines of credit, corporate credit cards and other financial transactions.
- Leads the Procurement function for the Garden including the coordination of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process and selection and management of key contractual relationships.
- Reviews and ensures appropriate contracts are in place for major projects and organizations, which contract with the Garden to provide support.
- Oversee all financial operations including budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and audits.
- In collaboration with the Investment Committee and Board of Trustees, manage the Garden’s endowment, investment portfolio, and cash flow. Manages third party consultants who provide advice and management for investments.
- Ensure compliance with nonprofit accounting standards, IRS regulations, and grant requirements.
- Develop in collaboration with the President, financial reports and strategic recommendations for key stakeholders and partners to include the Board of Trustees, Finance Committee, Zoo Museum District Board, Botanical Garden Sub district.
- Identify and manage financial risks, including investment oversight, insurance, and internal controls.
- Ensures compliance with grant requirements, donor restrictions, and regulatory filings (e.g., IRS Form 990).
- Lead the annual audit process and maintain strong relationships with external auditors.
- Supervise high performing finance and accounting staff, fostering a collaborative and inclusive team culture with focus on transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Implement systems and processes that improve efficiency, transparency and accountability.
- Collaborate with Development and Grants teams to support fundraising and donor stewardship through financial insights.
- Serve as Staff liaison to the Finance, Audit and Investment Committees.
- Support fundraising efforts by providing financial data and impact analysis for grants and donor proposals.
- Communicate financial performance and strategy to internal and external stakeholders.
- Minimum of 10 years of progressive financial leadership experience, ideally in a nonprofit, cultural, or scientific institution.
- Deep understanding of nonprofit financial management, including fund accounting and restricted funds. Experience with capital campaigns, grant compliance, and donor reporting.
- Experience with management of endowments, capital campaigns and grant compliance.
- Strong analytical, strategic thinking and communication skills.
- Commitment to the mission and values of the Missouri Botanical Garden, including sustainability, education, and community engagement.
- Familiarity with financial systems.
- Ability to translate complex financial data into clear, actionable insights for diverse audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with internal team members and external organizations in achieving organizational goals.
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field; CPA or MBA strongly preferred.
- An equivalent combination of education, skills, and experience may be considered.
- Demonstrated expertise in utilizing a wide range of computer applications, including the full Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook), with advanced proficiency in Excel for financial modeling and analysis.
- Comfortable navigating web-based platforms and digital publications to support research, reporting, and decision-making.
- Experience with database management systems is a plus, particularly in organizing, maintaining, and extracting financial data, specifically UNIT4.