Overview
Julie is a strategic CFO with over 25 years of experience spanning higher education, sports, nonprofits, and corporate sectors. She is known for driving financial results, building high-performing teams, and providing trusted strategic counsel to boards and executive leadership. Julie’s proficiency spans across finance, accounting, HR, and risk management, bringing a holistic perspective to leadership. She is recognized as a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and boards, and thrives in building results-driven teams and fostering a culture of transparency, collaboration, and integrity.
While results-driven, Julie’s leadership approach is rooted in strong values, assuring that financial strategies align with the organization’s mission and support long-term impact and ROI-driven decision-making.
Experience
She has served as CFO at Elmhurst University, where she led a financial transformation that strengthened long-term sustainability and enhanced cash and investment strategies. Prior to that, Julie spent 13 years at the Big Ten Conference, where she helped scale the organization. She was promoted to CFO after establishing the accounting department as the organization’s first Controller and earning the trust of university presidents, athletic administrators, and financial leaders.
Julie began her career at a top accounting firm and has since developed a reputation for being both data-driven and value-driven, with a passion for empowering teams and aligning financial strategy with organizational mission.
Education & Affiliations
Julie earned a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management.