The Michigan Conference Council on Finance and Administration hires the Rev. Don Emmert as Interim CFO as they pause their search in collaboration with GCFA.
October 5, 2020 | LANSING, MI — After David Dobbs’s retirement as treasurer/director of administrative services for The Michigan Conference earlier this year, the Council on Finance and Administration (CFA) contracted with the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) for assistance in conducting a nationwide search to find a replacement.
As this nationwide search progressed, the CFA made two decisions. First, on the advice of GCFA, the CFA has decided that the position will henceforth be known as the conference chief financial officer (CFO). This change in title reflects the reality that the position has evolved over time and now includes extensive management of the entire treasury office; direct collaboration with the Cabinet, the director of connectional ministries, the CFA, and other conference agencies; and the implementation and oversight of all financial aspects of the conference’s mission and ministry. The CFO title, borne by those with comparable duties and responsibilities in similarly sized secular organizations, allows the conference to more accurately convey the nature and scope of the job as it seeks candidates for the permanent position.
Secondly, having completed several candidate interviews, the CFA has decided to hire the Rev. Don Emmert, conference director of benefits and human resources, as interim CFO. With Emmert in place, the CFA is now able to pause the hiring process. This pause will allow the CFA to avail itself more fully of GCFA’s consulting services as it fine-tunes the job description, further clarifying the new expectations and duties of the position, while also targeting with more specificity a candidate pool with the most relevant experience and aptitude.
“We were very fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable and talented as Don already in-house,” said CFA vice president Andy Wayne. “Bringing Don on as the interim [CFO] allows us to step back from the hiring process and make better use of GCFA’s resources. We now have the time we need to get everything right.”
The CFA plans to have a permanent CFO in place no later than July 1, 2022.
Last Updated on October 12, 2020