Sarah Schaeffer
Wilmington,NC
Summary
- Fifteen years of experience interacting and collaborating with multiple levels of management and diverse cultural audiences within the public sector and higher education.
- Consistently achieve exceptional results while leading teams in a dynamic, fast-paced environment facilitating collaborative strategic action by utilizing data analytics.
- Goal-oriented and dedicated to strengthening administrative operations to streamline costs and enhance procedures.
- Motivational leader with exemplary communication, organizational and strategic planning abilities.
- Strong analytical skills and process efficiency mind set.
- Proactive in problem-solving and decision-making.
- Adept at collaborating with a variety of partners to meet desired goals and objectives.
- Skilled in interpreting and applying policies and fund accounting principles to processes and initiatives.
- Strong orientation for accuracy and completeness.
- Proven ability to balance priorities, meet tight deadlines, and produce superior quality.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Assistant Dean for Admin and Resource Mgt
College Of Humanities, Social Sciences & The Arts
05.2021 - Current
- Serve as Chief Operational and Human Resources Officer for the College.
- Serve as Budget Authority and Manager of College's annual budget in excess of $50M.
- Facilitate annual College budget development processes and coordinate College level budget submissions across multiple University budget cycles'.
- Analyze academic programs to develop a variety of models used for projecting enrollment, staffing, revenue, and expenditures.
- Execute budget analysis and report historical, budgeted, forecast, and strategic planning to the Dean to enhance decision-making and alignment with institutional priorities.
- Participate in decision-making process along with Associate Deans and Dean as to budgetary priorities and allocations.
- Analyze faculty line allocations and provide data to the Dean to enhance decision making on department and program growth.
- Collaborate with University administrators to conduct enrollment and financial planning for new programs, inclusive of academic support units, and business affairs units.
- Apply knowledge of UNC Enrollment Change Funding model to develop financial plans for new and existing academic programs in alignment with UNC system requirements.
- Construct differential tuition and program specific fee requests for programs and present to the University Campus Initiated Tuition Increase Committee.
- Provide training and supervision of three full time direct reports, conduct performance evaluations, provide coaching, best practices, and offer professional development opportunities to excel in their respective fields.
- Responsible for College infrastructure planning and implementation including classroom and student space updates.
- Led the initiative regarding resource allocations when the College of Arts and Sciences restructured into two new Colleges.
- Performed detailed analysis at the departmental level when the system office funding model changed and the impact it would have on the College.
Senior Business Officer
College Of Arts And Sciences
12.2016 - 05.2021
- Budget authority and consultant to the Dean for all College resource allocations.
- Served as lead business and human resources officer for the College; responsible for leadership for College business processes, an annual budget in excess of $50M, and human resource matters.
- Evaluated operational work flow as it contributes to business needs, offer innovative strategy to address areas of improvement.
- Collaborated with and served as liaison between staff, administrative offices, and Human Resources for 15 departments, programs and centers within the College.
- Developed and implemented policy and procedure related to business operations, fiscal management, and budget development for the College.
- Collaborated with faculty, staff and students to identify and address institutional challenges.
- Created templates and automated outdated processes and procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness within the College.
- Used strong analytical and problem-solving skills to develop effective solutions for challenging situations.
- Proved successful working within tight deadlines and fast-paced environment.
- Adaptable and proficient in learning new concepts quickly and efficiently.
Senior Budget Analyst
University of North Carolina Wilmington
04.2013 - 12.2016
- Reviewed and analyzed all general and receipt supported operations on a monthly basis, focusing on operating funds.
- Responsible for ensuring that expenditures do not exceed budget.
- Analyzed and prepared trend and forward looking data for university budget allocations.
- Performed semi-annual reviews and projection analysis for all student fee supported areas. Responsible for ensuring that all student fee areas will meet their revenue projections and if not work with the Business Officer to determine appropriate course of action.
- Reconciled university budget with Ellucian Banner Finance, the Office of State Budget and Management and the North Carolina accounting system on a monthly basis.
- Responsible for reviewing and approving all receipt supported operations’ budgets annually. Determine the program viability through generating performance reports and variance analyses.
- Review personnel action forms for all Athletics and receipt supported positions. Utilize Ellucian Banner HR to determine accuracy of personnel budgets, adjustments and position control actions.
- Effectively led UNCW Banner Finance Training classes and one-on-one training sessions for various budget subjects including state appropriated funds, receipt supported, and university budgeting, including the state's enrollment growth funding model.
- Provided budget support for the Tuition and Fee committee including analysis as to budget implications of any increases.
- Assisted the Director of Budgets with report inquiries from State and Sytem Office inquiries; including, but not limited tom UNCW’s enrollment growth submission and budget reduction scenarios.
- Coordinated with IT and Financial Systems on successful testing and completion of all Banner upgrades for the Budget Request System and the Budget Development System.
- Developed and enhanced several procedures relating to monthly analysis of general and receipt supported areas ensuring compliance with internal and state guidelines, laws, policies and regulations.
- Frequently prepared presentations for senior leadership as it pertains to university budget, both current and future fiscal years.
Financial Management Analyst
Fleet Readiness Center East, US Navy
07.2008 - 04.2013
- Performed comparative analysis to examine trends and develop a plan for allocating resources
- Planned and conducted performance and financial reviews of several major programs and entities to evaluate reliability, effectiveness, and efficiency of the organization. Responsible for preparing weekly charts demonstrating cost performance that resulted in increased awareness of current project viability.
- Reviewed monthly financial data and reports in comparison with budget. Determined driving factors behind any variance. Briefed senior management on the results and provided mitigations proposals.
- Conducted numerous cause and effect scenario analysis drills. Responsible for compiling all supporting financial data and determining financial and staffing impacts any workload loss may have and highlighting any associated risks.
- Responsible for annually composing and consolidating a four year budget with revenue of $700 million in accordance with established policies, guidelines, regulations, and financial/workload constraints.
- Developed model to determine optimal level of support personnel needed to complete current workload. This tool created greater visibility for management when developing a staffing plan.
- Composed breakdown analysis by program. Created model, now a key tool used by senior management, to more accurately set customer rates. Received the individual achievement award for an associate in Echelon III and below from the American Society of Military Comptrollers for creation of rate breakdown and reduction model.
Education
Master of Science - Business Analytics
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Wilmington, NC05.2022
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration: Finance
Elon University
Elon, NC05.2008
Skills
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite; in including, advanced formulas, pivot tables and power quires in MS Excel and MS Teams
- Ellucian Banner Finance, Human Resources and Student modules and Ellucian Banner Self-Service
- Proficiency in utilizing the following data analytical software: Tableau, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), IBM Cognos, Power BI, and Anaplan
- Familiarity with the following programming languages: R, and the associated platform RStudio, and JMP
- PeopleAdmin
- Collaborative Problem-Solving
- Organization and Time Management
- Personnel development, management and supervision
Professional Development And Activities
- UNCW Finance Training Certificate Program - completed all three levels
- Advanced Connections Customer Service Training
- Attended several National Association of College and University Business Officers forums
- Member of the Junior League of Wilmington - Served as a committee chair for two years
- Founder of the Elon University Alumni Chapter in Wilmington, NC
- Volunteer at Nourish NC in Wilmington, NC
Timeline
Assistant Dean for Admin and Resource Mgt
College Of Humanities, Social Sciences & The Arts
05.2021 - Current
Senior Business Officer
College Of Arts And Sciences
12.2016 - 05.2021
Senior Budget Analyst
University of North Carolina Wilmington
04.2013 - 12.2016
Financial Management Analyst
Fleet Readiness Center East, US Navy
07.2008 - 04.2013
Master of Science - Business Analytics
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration: Finance
Elon University