Interested and qualified candidates are invited to contact the consultants listed below in confidence. Candidates will ultimately need to submit the following materials as separate PDF documents:
- A cover letter tailored to express interest in this position
- A current and comprehensive résumé
Sara Shulman
Practice Leader – Development and Finance/Senior
Consultant
Jamie Estes
Consultant
Applicant must apply to: Current Retained Leadership Search Opportunities | Carney Sandoe Search Group
Overview
Charlotte Country Day School enters its 85th year as one of the region’s most established and forward-looking independent schools, with a history of pairing enduring traditions with a willingness to evolve. Across its JK–12 program, Country Day combines educational excellence with strong relationships, a deep commitment to community and service, and a distinctive culture of innovation. Today, the School stands on an exceptionally strong institutional foundation while looking purposefully ahead. With a newly approved strategic plan, significant resources, and the extraordinary possibilities presented by its 330-acre Weddington Farm, Country Day is preparing for a consequential period of growth and evolution—one that will require thoughtful stewardship of its people, resources, facilities, and operations in service to the School’s mission.
A strategic plan approved in 2025 sets an ambitious course for the years ahead, and Country Day enters this search from a position of genuine financial strength. The School operates on an annual budget of approximately $70 million, oversees an endowment of $86 million, and raises approximately $3.1 million in annual giving, resources built in part through a recently completed $92.5 million capital campaign. With the retirement of David Mancos, a steady and deeply respected steward of the School’s finances and operations, Country Day seeks to build on his legacy of strength, compassion, and commitment while envisioning the next chapter of financial and operational leadership. The School is entering a period of thoughtful planning and investment in its people, programs, and campuses, and the next Chief Financial and Operations Officer will help carry this momentum forward as a strategic partner in Country Day’s continued success.
Reporting to Head of School Dr. Tara Christie Kinsey, who joined the community in July 2025, the Chief Financial and Operations Officer will serve as a senior member of the School’s collaborative leadership team and will oversee both Country Day’s financial and robust operational functions. The CFOO will lead a talented team and partner closely with colleagues across the School on institutional strategy, ensuring that resources align with the mission and that day-to-day operations run smoothly and efficiently.
Mission
Through excellence in education, Charlotte Country Day School develops the potential of each student by fostering intellectual curiosity, principled character, ethical leadership, and a responsibility to serve.
Affirmation of Community
Charlotte Country Day School is committed to living as an authentic, inclusive community. Our pursuit of this commitment to community recognizes and affirms the richness brought by difference and discovered through commonality.
How I Teach
At a Glance
Established: 1941
Enrollment: 1,746
Total faculty and staff: 357
Campuses – 2
Weddington Farm — 330 acres
Total buildings — 28
Additional Stats
Financial aid budget: $9.4M
Endowment — $86M
Operating budget — $70M
Annual giving — $3.1M
Most recent capital campaign — $92.5M
Opportunities and Challenges
The next Chief Financial and Operations Officer will join a School that is financially healthy, operationally sound, and led by a strong and collaborative team. The opportunities below reflect the natural next steps for an already high-functioning office as Country Day continues to grow and evolve.
Partner in a period of thoughtful growth and planning
Country Day is entering an exciting chapter of institutional planning and investment. School leadership will soon update its campus master plan and continue to think strategically about how best to steward its two campuses and its 330-acre Weddington Farm as long-term assets. This work will include both planning for future expansion and ensuring the long-term care of the School’s existing physical assets through disciplined capital, maintenance, and lifecycle planning. The CFOO will be a key thought partner in this work, helping translate the School’s aspirations into sound, sustainable financial and operational plans.
Bring strategic financial leadership to a strong foundation
Disciplined financial stewardship, healthy reserves, and prudent resource management have long defined Country Day. The next CFOO will build on this foundation, bringing a strategic lens to long-range financial planning and capital structure, and helping the School continue to align its resources with its highest priorities. The CFOO will manage the School’s existing debt portfolio, cultivate strong relationships with financial partners, and evaluate future financing opportunities in support of the School’s long-term plans. The CFOO will understand that the most financially efficient choice is not always the one that best serves the School, and will weigh financial considerations alongside mission, culture, and the experience of the community to help leadership reach decisions that are sound on both fronts. The CFOO will sustain a rigorous and collaborative budgeting process, working closely with budget leaders across the School and maintaining clear, proactive communication with the Finance and Audit Committee, Investment Committee, Property and Grounds Committee, and the full Board of Trustees.
Lead and empower a talented team
The CFOO will inherit a deeply experienced, collaborative, and mutually supportive team, many of whom have served the School for years. There is a welcome opportunity to continue investing in the team’s professional growth, clarify roles and responsibilities as the organization evolves, and ensure that work is delegated to the appropriate level. The next CFOO will be expected to learn from and place meaningful trust in experienced leaders while creating the structures and accountability that allow them to operate with appropriate autonomy. As the School’s systems, structures, and priorities evolve, the CFOO will guide the team through change with transparency and care.
Advance systems and operational efficiency
The School is actively upgrading its systems and processes, including moving toward more digital, integrated, and streamlined workflows across the business office and other operational functions. The next CFOO will help guide these continuing efforts in close partnership with colleagues in information technology, human resources, advancement, and across the divisions. As systems evolve, the CFOO will also have an opportunity to assess how work is organized and responsibilities are distributed, creating greater capacity for experienced leaders to focus on analysis, planning, service, and strategic priorities. Throughout this work, the CFOO will keep in mind that faculty, staff, students, and families experience these functions every day, and will ensure that systems and processes are designed with their needs in mind.
Serve as an organizational connector and trusted partner
Operating within a leadership culture that Dr. Kinsey has built around candor, trust, and distributed decision-making, the CFOO will be an accessible, proactive, and communicative partner. Sitting at the intersection of finance and operations, the CFOO will connect colleagues and priorities across a complex organization, anticipate what others need to know, and communicate early and clearly with School and Board leadership. The CFOO will help colleagues understand the reasoning behind financial and operational decisions while empowering experienced leaders to lead their areas effectively.
Qualifications and Personal Attributes
The next Chief Financial and Operations Officer will bring strong financial acumen paired with genuine operational range, and the judgment to lead both functions in service of the School’s mission. The most competitive candidates will offer most or all of the following qualifications and qualities.
Professional Qualifications
- Significant experience overseeing both finance and operations within a complex organization, ideally an independent school or comparable mission-driven institution;
- Strategic financial leadership, including long-range planning, budgeting, and the ability to align resources with institutional priorities;
- Experience managing institutional debt, including lender relationships, covenant compliance, and refinancing or new financings, ideally in connection with capital projects;
- Demonstrated ability to lead across the operational dimensions of a multi-campus institution, including facilities, human resources, risk and security, and vendor relationships;
- Direct experience overseeing significant new construction and renovation projects, from planning and financing through design, contractor management, and completion, as well as long-term campus and land-use planning;
- Proven experience leading organizational changes, including guiding teams through new systems, evolving structures, and shifting priorities while sustaining morale, continuity, and trust;
- Strong use of data to inform clear, collaborative decision-making; and
- A demonstrated commitment to equity and belonging, with an awareness of how financial and operational decisions, policies, practices, and the allocation of resources affect different members of the school community.
Personal Attributes
- A collaborative, team-oriented leader who empowers colleagues and takes joy in shared success;
- An accessible, personable, and humble presence who builds trust across the community;
- A strong, proactive, and visible communicator who anticipates what colleagues and governance leaders need to know, shares information early and appropriately, and is comfortable engaging faculty, staff, Board members, and external audiences;
- The judgment to distinguish between what is financially optimal and what is institutionally optimal, and the wisdom to help leadership navigate the space between them;
- The ability to say “not yet” thoughtfully, balancing fiscal responsibility with appropriate flexibility, always through the lens of the School’s core purpose;
- A disciplined and detail-oriented steward who can translate ambitious ideas into practical plans, surface financial and operational implications early, and maintain appropriate accountability around budgets and spending;
- Dexterity and flexibility to move between a leadership team meeting and a construction site with genuine understanding of each;
- Patience, curiosity, and humility to listen, learn, and understand the rhythms, relationships, and culture of an independent school before shaping its next chapter; and
- Unquestioned integrity and a deep respect for the people and culture of the School.
