The Opportunity

Business Publications Corp. (BPC), publisher of the Business Record and dsm Magazine, is seeking a VP of Strategic Finance for a newly created role that combines strategic financial leadership with hands-on execution to support our growing business.

BPC’s continued growth has increased the scale and complexity of our financial and operational needs. This is an opportunity for a practical, driven leader to understand our business and financials deeply, lead budgeting and financial analysis, strengthen systems and reporting, and help move important business improvements from idea to implementation.

The position will report to the President and be a key leader on BPC’s executive leadership team. The position will lead an established accounting team, leveraging its institutional knowledge and strong operational foundation while adding the strategic capacity, leadership depth, and implementation support needed for BPC's next stage of growth.

ABOUT BPC

Business Publications Corporation (BPC) is a growing, locally-owned multimedia company dedicated to informing, connecting, and inspiring the Greater Des Moines business community. Through award-winning journalism, dynamic events and publications such as the Business Record and dsm Magazine, we foster meaningful conversations and professional growth opportunities.

Core Responsibilities

Financial Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting

• Lead the annual budgeting process from planning assumptions and department submissions through executive review, tradeoff decisions, approval, and communication.
• Serve as the President/CEO's primary thought partner on budget strategy, resource allocation, financial priorities, and in-year adjustments.
• Build and maintain rolling forecasts, cash and operating outlooks, scenario models, and other tools that make emerging risks and opportunities visible early.
• Partner with department leaders to understand revenue and cost drivers, strengthen budget ownership, and develop corrective actions when performance departs from plan.
• Provide financial insight during the development of new initiatives and the evaluation of ongoing programs, products, and work efforts.

Monthly Financial Review and Decision Support

• Review monthly financial statements and management reports for accuracy, completeness, reasonableness, and decision relevance in partnership with the accounting team.
• Identify material variances, unexpected trends, classification concerns, incomplete information, and items requiring deeper examination.
• Drive questions to resolution by investigating root causes, engaging the appropriate team members, coordinating corrections, and confirming that both the financial record and the underlying process are addressed.
• Translate financial results into a concise narrative for the President/CEO and executive leadership team, including implications, choices, risks, and recommended actions.
• Develop dashboards, KPIs, unit economics, and performance measures that connect financial outcomes to operational activity and organizational strategy.

Strategic Finance and Investment Leadership

• Evaluate major investments, staffing decisions, vendor commitments, technology purchases, and new initiatives through clear business cases, scenario analysis, and post-investment review.
• Advise the executive leadership team on financial sustainability, cost structure, revenue opportunities, organizational capacity, and long-range planning.
• Surface emerging risks and opportunities proactively and recommend practical responses before they become urgent.
• Prepare executive- and board-ready financial analyses and presentations as needed.

Operational Improvement and Implementation

• Identify and prioritize cross-functional opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, data quality, accountability, and organizational capacity.
• Lead improvements from end to end: define the problem, map the current process, design the future state, build the business case, establish a project plan, and drive implementation.
• Select and implement systems and software where technology is part of the solution, including requirements definition, vendor evaluation, implementation oversight, workflow and data readiness, training, and adoption.
• Create durable operating processes, procedures, controls, documentation, ownership, and performance measures so improvements are sustained after launch.
• Serve as a task-oriented driver for important business operations needs, including technology, cybersecurity, insurance, and other emerging company-wide challenges.
• Work directly and respectfully with the people closest to the work, combining executive perspective with the detail orientation required to make change happen.

Organizational Capacity and Future Readiness

• Add leadership depth and continuity across finance, accounting, and related administrative responsibilities as BPC grows.
• Help reduce dependence on manual processes and knowledge concentrated with individual team members while respecting and leveraging existing institutional expertise.
• Strengthen financial understanding and accountability across BPC by communicating clearly and partnering constructively with department leaders.
• Help shape scalable financial and business operations that can accommodate greater revenue, expense, staffing, and organizational complexity.

How You Will Partner with the Team

BPC's existing accounting team manages the core accounting function and coordinates HR support through our professional employer organization (PEO). The VP of Finance will complement - not replace - that work. This role will bring greater strategic capacity while partnering closely with the accounting team to strengthen reporting, modernize systems, investigate financial questions, document knowledge, and create greater continuity across critical responsibilities. Because BPC is a small company, success requires both executive-level judgment and the willingness to work through details. The right person will build trust with colleagues, communicate financial concepts in plain language, and help people make changes rather than simply telling them what needs to change.

Leadership Profile

• A strategic finance mindset paired with a strong bias toward action, implementation, and follow-through.
• Exceptional organization, task orientation, and attention to detail, balanced with the judgment to prioritize what matters most.
• The ability to move comfortably between executive-level strategy and hands-on work with models, workflows, systems, procedures, and implementation details.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust, influence across functions, challenge constructively, and drive accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Clear, concise communication and the ability to translate financial concepts into plain language, practical choices, and concrete next steps.
• An enterprise mindset that considers what is best for the whole organization, not only the finance function.
• Comfort operating in a growing, entrepreneurial environment where priorities evolve and the role will grow with the needs of the business.

Qualifications

• Significant progressive experience in FP&A, strategic finance, finance leadership, business operations, or a closely related field, including leadership at an enterprise or senior functional level.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex annual budgets, rolling forecasts, monthly financial review, variance analysis, and executive decision support.
• Strong financial modeling and analytical skills, paired with sound business judgment and the ability to identify what matters most.
• Sufficient accounting fluency to review financial statements, assess accuracy and meaning, ask precise questions, and coordinate the resolution of issues with accounting professionals.
• A track record of moving from analysis to implementation and delivering measurable financial or operational improvements across functions.
• Experience designing or improving reporting, KPI, workflow, or data systems that strengthened clarity, efficiency, accountability, or organizational capacity.
• Experience evaluating and implementing finance, planning, reporting, ERP, workflow, business intelligence, or other enterprise software.
• Strong project and change leadership skills, including process design, stakeholder alignment, implementation planning, training, adoption, and sustained ownership.
• Experience partnering with a CEO, president, owner, executive leadership team, and department leaders on consequential financial and operational decisions.
• Executive-level communication skills and the credibility to prepare and present decision-ready analysis to senior leaders and, when needed, a board or finance committee.
• Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, or a related field; an advanced degree or relevant professional credential is valued but not required.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in media, publishing, professional services, or another multi-product revenue model.
• Experience leading through growth, transformation, increasing complexity, or resource constraints.
• Familiarity with accounting systems, planning tools, business intelligence platforms, and data visualization.

Why Join BPC

This is an opportunity to have meaningful influence at a growing company. You will have a seat on the executive leadership team, direct partnership with the President/CEO, and the ability to shape how BPC uses financial insight, systems, and disciplined execution to support its future. The role offers room to grow with the company and to help define what excellent strategic finance and business operations look like at BPC.