Established in 1936 as a member-owned electric cooperative, East Central Energy now provides electric service across 14 counties and over 62,000 homes, farms, and businesses in east-central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. We are committed to improving the quality of life of our members by safely providing reliable energy and related services while embracing our cooperative principles. By engaging with technology and innovation like distributed energy and battery storage, we offer members access to the affordable energy resources that build on our history as a cooperative.  

Our employees are genuinely essential. We provide a safe environment for a workforce of engaged team members. We strive to offer compensation packages that attract and retain the top talent in the region, and foster a culture that promotes integrity, productivity, and transparency. Employees feel a close connection with the organization and with one another. Our leaders are focused on strategic leadership and employee development.  

As a member-owned cooperative, we are invested in our communities and seek to provide value to our members. We encourage economic development and small-town growth in our service territory by providing energy expertise and appropriate support. We provide exceptional service, world-class reliability, and affordable energy while staying true to our core values.  

THE POSITION  

The VP/CFO position reports directly to the President/CEO and serves on the executive team. This position will primarily have day-to-day responsibility to plan, implement, manage, and control all financial, member service, and human resource related activities for ECE. The VP/CFO directly assists the President/CEO on all strategic and tactical matters to achieve ECE’s business and financial objectives. The VP/CFO provides leadership for all financial, member service, and human resource related issues and ensures the culture set forth by ECE’s executive team is communicated and successfully executed. The VP/CFO supervises the Finance & Assets Manager, Member Services Manager, and Human Resources Manager. 

QUALIFICATIONS  

Experience and Education: A Bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting or finance is required. A Master’s degree in business administration, accounting, or finance and/or CPA is desirable.? A minimum of ten years in progressively responsible financial leadership roles with specific experience in a rural utility cooperative; or a combination of education and experience providing equivalent knowledge.?  

Leadership: A self-motivated individual in this position treats people with respect, keeps commitments, accepts responsibility for their actions, inspires the trust of others, works with a high level of integrity, and upholds organizational values. 

Technical Skills: Qualified candidates have an extensive understanding of RUS accounting principles and GAAP. This candidate must also possess the ability to develop project plans, coordinate with others, communicate changes and progress, and completes projects on time and within budget. 

Environmental Conditions: The following work environment descriptions represent those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.   

• The employee is regularly exposed to inside office conditions, sitting at a desk or work center operating a computer, keyboard, and mouse. 
• The employee is occasionally exposed to outside conditions of hot, cold, rain, snow. 
• The noise level in the work environment is regularly low to moderate. 

Physical Demands: Regularly required to stand; walk, sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, push, pull, crouch, or crawl; talk, hear, and smell.   

• Able to sit for 8 hours or more.   
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds with or without assistance. 
• Vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. 
• Ability to drive a vehicle approximately 20% of the time in order to attend management meetings.?