Overview

The Finance and Operations Excellence (FOX) Fellowship is a 9-month practical, hands-on onboarding program for new Chief Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers in scaling charter management organizations.  The intent of the fellowship is to catapult CFOs and COOs into the next phase of their leadership journey so they can achieve a more significant impact in service of strengthening student outcomes.  The program is designed to provide CFO and COO leaders, in collaboration with their CEOs, with the contextual tools and leadership mindsets to achieve this ambition.  The FOX Fellowship is grounded in practical, timely, and relevant implementation to habitualize leadership mindsets and behaviors. 

The intent is to arm Fellows with baseline level skills, tools, and context to lay the groundwork for long-term success. All programmatic components will require action that will translate into on-the-spot results for both the Fellow and the organization they lead. For this reason, the learning scope and sequence will be aligned with the ebbs and flows of a typical school year.  To be clear, the work required of FOX Fellows is work any new CFO or COO would need to execute at the start of their new assignment. 

The goals of the Fellowship are to:

  • Maximize financial and operational effectiveness in schools to be a great enabler of school quality; 

  • Improve the retention of finance and operations leaders, and in particular the representation and retention of women and people of color; and

  • Support long-term financial and academic sustainability for partner organizations.

For more detailed information for Fellows, please review the 2024 Prospective Applicant Q&A.

There are 5 unique programmatic components of the FOX Fellowship:

  • The FOX Team surveys the needs of each cohort to determine the technical content scope and sequence.

    It pairs Fellows with coaches who are experienced and expert current and former CEOs, CFOs, and COOs with a proven track record of success that can guide their success. Their coaching is based on a bespoke professional development plan, real-time problem solving and direct in-field observations. This coaching is supported by an expert coach of coaches that provides support and mentorship to maximize coaching impact.

  • The Fellowship will foster a success triad between the Fellow, direct manager/CEO and coach meant to develop a supportive environment that facilitates the work of each Fellow. Coaches will work with Fellows on a dedicated one-on-one basis, while ensuring the deliberate and active involvement of a fellow’s manager, typically the CEO.

    For this reason, we also offer a tailored CEO professional development scope and sequence to enhance a CEO’s understanding and involvement in finance and operational issues.

  • FOX brings together practitioners from organizations throughout the country. Throughout the Fellowship, we facilitate relationship building by fostering connections among cohort members and FOX alumni. Beyond the cohort relationships, Fellows are placed into largely homogenous and tight-nit Advisory Hubs to enhance networking, trust, peer accountability, and professional lifeline support.

  • Unlike typical leadership programs, the FOX Fellowship focuses on results-oriented adaptive and technical skill building based on proven best practices. Fellows receive coaching to achieve technical competencies. This coaching includes adaptive development designed with the individual leader in mind.

  • Any leader must have a tangible win on a yearly basis. This sets the tone for their tenure, it facilitates working relationships among their peers, and engenders trust among their team. The FOX Capstone Project is meant to provide this win for Fellows. The spirit behind this Fellowship-long project is to demonstrate application of core FOX competencies, while driving an initiative of significant impact to the organization.