Scott Topping, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Kamehameha Schools‘ newly formed Finance Group is led by Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Scott Topping. He shared the following highlights to help build understanding of his Group’s new structure:

WHAT is at the heart of the Finance Group‘s new structure?

Originally, the Finance function housed the following divisions: Treasury, Controller and FDSD.

In the new structure, the Finance Group retains all but FDSD, which is now part of the Administration Group. In addition, the Financial Assets Division (FAD) and Commercial Real Estate Division (CRED) of the former Endowment Group merge with the Finance Group. A new unit, titled “Financial Planning & Analysis” (FP&A), will also be part of the Finance Group. Initially, this unit will be formed by moving five individuals from the Controller Division into FP&A along with two new positions to be filled in coming months.

Today, the reorganized Finance Group includes: Treasury, Controller, FP&A (new), Financial Assets, and Commercial Real Estate.

WHY the change?

Collectively, the organizational changes better align Resource Planning, Budgeting, Financial Modeling, and Reporting to the Strategic Plan.

Under SP2020, the Finance Group has a number of strategic transitions for the current year. Reorganizing the group to improve effectiveness is a foundational element. Having Finance and Endowment now under one roof, will enhance our ability to better align our Commercial Real Estate interests with Financial Assets and regional objectives. The FP&A function will provide enterprise-wide support for complex strategic objectives related to improving financial decision making and measuring program impacts.

HOW and WHEN will these changes take effect?

The majority of the reorganization is in effect now and most of the organization remains intact with a few exceptions noted below. Because we are combining several groups that have very distinct functions, most employees will be doing what they have been doing as they continue to execute against the plan with the added benefit of fewer silos.

There are a few exceptions where organizational transitions will take a little more time. The first exception will involve two individuals in the Operational Due Diligence (ODD) function of the Controller Division that will be moving to Financial Assets. To mitigate potential risks related to this move, this transition will take place over a period of weeks to ensure a successful outcome. Second, the new FP&A unit has been in the planning stage for a while but only recently approved. We will be building the division over the course of the year. Although it may feel like “business as usual,” we expect to see a number of synergies flowing from joining Finance, FAD and CRED that were not naturally occurring in the previous structure. This will allow us to improve our effectiveness at the enterprise level and better equip us to tackle the work laid out before us in SP2020.

Finance Group org chart