Chief Financial Officer

Cornerstone Executive Search Group; Kansas City (MO); On-site; USD 250,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Milbank Manufacturing, a nearly century-old family-owned electrical solutions company in Kansas City, seeks a Chief Financial Officer to lead FP&A, accounting, treasury, and capital strategy. Reporting to the President and CEO, the CFO guides performance, risk management, and strategic transactions across manufacturing operations.

The ideal candidate will have 15+ years in manufacturing finance, strong leadership, and a track record of EBITDA and cash-flow improvement in private equity-backed

Qualifications

• 15+ years in finance and accounting leadership, preferably as CFO or VP of Finance.
• Significant manufacturing, industrial, or complex operating environment experience.
• Private equity-backed or highly performance-driven ownership exposure preferred.
• Proven track record improving EBITDA, cash flow, and operating performance.
• Strong FP&A capabilities including long-range planning and KPIs.
• Experience communicating with boards, lenders, and sponsors.
• Experience with acquisitions, due diligence, and integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead financial planning, analysis, reporting, and performance management.
• Oversee accounting, treasury, working capital, controls, and compliance.
• Manage capital allocation, M&A, and strategic transactions.
• Build a high-performing finance organization and partner across the business.
• Drive cash flow optimization and enterprise-value creation.
• Develop dashboards and KPIs to support decision making.
• Collaborate with leadership to forecast and evaluate performance.

Skills

FP&A leadership

Manufacturing finance

Strategic thinking

Board communication

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's in Accounting/Finance

MBA or CPA

Tools

ERP systems

Financial modeling

Job description

Milbank Manufacturing is a nearly century-old, family-owned manufacturer rooted in Kansas City and known for electrical solutions that help move and manage power. The company engineers and manufactures meter sockets, enclosed controls, commercial enclosures, and related products while emphasizing quality, service, safety, and value to customers.

The business combines a strong Midwest manufacturing legacy with broad market reach that includes every corner of the United States and in 36 countries around the world. Milbank serves utility, contractor, residential, commercial, industrial, OEM, infrastructure, and transportation customers through a manufacturing and distribution footprint built to support reliable delivery and evolving customer needs.

Milbank's mission is grounded in engineering and manufacturing high-quality electrical products while delivering exceptional service and value. Its values emphasize honesty and integrity, product quality, personal safety, financial responsibility, and personal accountability.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to become a central strategic partner to the President and CEO, Board of Directors, ownership, and executive leadership team of a respected American manufacturer entering its next chapter of growth and performance.

The Chief Financial Officer will help translate Milbank's strategy into measurable financial performance, stronger cash generation, disciplined investment decisions, and sustainable enterprise value. The role reaches well beyond reporting: it will shape how the organization forecasts, evaluates performance, allocates capital, develops financial talent, and makes major commercial and operational decisions.

For a finance executive with strong manufacturing instincts, this position offers meaningful influence across the enterprise and the chance to strengthen the financial systems, insight, discipline, and organizational readiness that will support Milbank's long-term future.

The Position

Reporting to the President and CEO, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer is responsible for Milbank's overall financial leadership. The CFO will lead financial planning and analysis, accounting and reporting, treasury, working capital, risk management, financial controls, capital allocation, and the financial aspects of acquisitions and other strategic transactions.

The CFO will combine technical financial excellence with commercial and operational business acumen. This leader must understand Milbank's customers, markets, products, manufacturing operations, cost structure, and sources of competitive advantage, then turn that understanding into clear insight and action.

The role also leads the finance organization, including Accounting, Financial Planning and Analysis, Treasury, Credit and Collections, and other assigned financial functions. The CFO will build a high-performance team that serves as a forward-looking business partner across Milbank.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an accomplished manufacturing finance executive who has led in a complex, performance-driven operating environment. They bring command of FP&A, accounting, cash flow, working capital, plant finance, capital investment, controls, and executive-level reporting, together with the judgment to connect financial decisions to long-term enterprise value.

This leader is credible with a Board, ownership, lenders, advisors, and executive peers. They communicate difficult facts clearly, constructively challenge assumptions, and balance opportunity and risk without losing trust. They are equally comfortable in the boardroom and on the manufacturing floor.

Just as important, the right candidate is a builder. They develop strong teams, improve systems and processes, establish accountability, raise financial literacy across the business, and model Milbank's values of integrity, quality, safety, financial responsibility, and personal accountability.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Financial Leadership and Enterprise Value Creation
• Board and Ownership Partnership
• Financial Planning, Analysis and Performance Management
• Operational and Manufacturing Finance
• Cash Flow, Working Capital and Treasury
• Financial Reporting, Accounting and Controls
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Transactions
• Capital Allocation
• Risk Management and Insurance
• Finance Organization and Talent Development
• Financial Systems, Analytics and Process Improvement
• Lean Enterprise and Continuous Improvement
• Finance Team Leadership

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field required; master's degree, MBA, CPA, or another advanced financial qualification preferred.
• Minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible finance and accounting leadership experience, including significant experience as a CFO, Divisional CFO, Vice President of Finance, or comparable senior financial executive.
• Significant financial leadership experience within a manufacturing, industrial, or similarly complex operating environment is strongly preferred.
• Prior experience in a private equity-backed, leveraged, or highly performance-driven ownership environment strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success improving EBITDA, cash flow, working capital, profitability, financial visibility, and operating performance.
• Strong FP&A capabilities, including budgeting, forecasting, long-range planning, scenario analysis, and development of meaningful financial and operational KPIs.
• Experience communicating with Boards of Directors, shareholders, private equity sponsors, lenders, and other sophisticated financial stakeholders.
• Experience with acquisitions, financial due diligence, quality-of-earnings processes, integration, financing, or other strategic transactions preferred.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing finance, including standard costing, plant performance, inventory, capital investment, margin analysis, and operational productivity.
• Demonstrated ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing finance organizations.
• Strong systems, data, and analytical orientation with the ability to improve the speed, accuracy, and usefulness of financial information.

Key Success Metrics

Translate Milbank's strategy into measurable financial goals, operating targets, and value-creation initiatives with clear ownership and milestones.

Improve the visibility, timeliness, accuracy, and usefulness of financial reporting, rolling forecasts, and decision support.

Strengthen EBITDA, margins, cash flow, working capital performance, return on invested capital, and long-term enterprise value.

Establish a disciplined monthly performance-management cadence with actionable insight into revenue, price, volume, mix, costs, productivity, SG&A, working capital and cash flow.

Maintain strong accounting, controls, compliance, liquidity, lender reporting, covenant management, and enterprise risk practices.

Create rigorous capital-allocation and post-investment review processes that direct resources toward the highest-value opportunities.

Build a high-performing, scalable finance organization with strong succession depth and a business-partner mindset.

Ensure Milbank's financial data, systems, documentation, and processes are ready to support growth, financing, transactions, and sophisticated diligence.