Sales Management

KELLEN BATESON

**** ****** **** **** **********, NJ 08057

Phone during Business Hours: 609-***-****, ext. 20387

Home Phone: 609-***-**** Cell: 609-***-****

Email: ********@********.**.***

OBJECTIVE

To provide executive leadership for financial services in financial planning, cash management, budgeting, payroll,

accounting, auditing, and risk management as Deputy Superintendent in charge of financial and business

functions, Moorestown Township Public Schools.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Master s-level financial-services professional with CPA and more than five years of experience in school

administration, as well as strong financial background and proven history of strengthening financial condition

of employers and clients.

Strong leader and consensus-builder who passionately executes employer s mission.

Excellent negotiator and communicator who has successfully negotiated numerous large, financially complex

and politically intricate transactions.

Life-long township resident with deep roots in the community.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services, Moorestown Township Public Schools, Moorestown,

NJ, 1998 to present

Serve as chief financial officer and identify ways to fund programs to meet School Board s goals.

Oversee $700+ million annual budget of 8,500-employee school district and direct Budget, Finance, Payroll,

Insurance and Employee Benefits, and Site Accounting, including treasury functions of investing/issuing debt.

Align budget with District s strategic objectives in collaboration with divisions to ensure adequate provision

for their operating needs.

Led School District to its strongest financial condition in years.

Ensure that entire School District focuses on maximizing use of resources not how to spend the budget but

rather on programs that will best meet student needs and improve student achievement, as well as enhance

operating effectiveness and efficiency.

Collaborate closely with other division chiefs to provide business counsel.

Cost-Savings and Revenue-Generation Accomplishments

Negotiated issuance of about $300 million in debt and $50 million Fixed Spread Basis Swap, which has

generated $100K+ in positive cash flow and with imminent restoration of normal relationship between tax-

exempt and taxable short-term interest rates will generate even more cash flow each year.

Collaborated with Special Needs Services department to participate in Medicaid Administrative Outreach

program producing up to $800K annually in additional revenues.

Conducted school facilities impact-fee study on fees expected to generate additional $11 million annually.

Successfully transitioned health insurance from expensive district-subsidized, self-funded plan to fully insured

plan following year-long School Board deadlock; hired consultant with expertise in health benefits and formed

committee to comprehensively explore all options; committee s recommendation resulted in Board s

unanimous vote in favor of fully insured plan.

Changed paradigm for district s copy center in collaboration with Management Information Systems and

transformed it from district-subsidized operation to one that has produced hundreds of thousands of dollars

in positive cash flow for the last two years.

Minimized wasteful spending and ensured consistency among schools by partnering with Facilities Division

and Purchasing Departments to develop standardized furniture and equipment package for all new schools.

Developed incentive program in conjunction with Facilities Division to reduce by 10 percent the kilowatt

hours consumed by schools for most recent fiscal year, saving district hundreds of thousands of dollars in

electricity costs.

K. Bateson page two

Accomplishments in Communicating with Legislators and Other Government Officials

Cultivated solid relationship with key members of Moorestown legislative delegation.

Deploy excellent political skills and contacts to testify to New Jersey Education Finance Program task force and

legislative committees about public education in New Jersey.

Public-Speaking, Public-Education, Presentation, and Persuasion Accomplishments

Played key role as a main presenter to various groups regarding Optional Sales Tax referendum, resulting in

passage of 1/2 cent tax that is generating more than $30 million annually to fund school construction.

Educate employees and the public about how School District earns its money; speak frequently at local service

clubs and professional conferences, serve as guest lecturer for classes at local universities, and appear as TV/radio

guest.

Use strong presentation skills to speak frequently at events on behalf of School District to tout the Districts

smoothly operating business and support functions to school communities and the public.

Authored paper for publication in New Jersey Association of School Business Officials magazine on implications

of Sarbanes-Oxley Act to New Jersey School Districts.

Accomplishments in Personnel Management, Process Improvement, and Reorganization

Took Financial Services Division from situation in which union leadership distrusted financial information to

position of respect, trust, and recognition of positive contributions.

Oversaw most organized and best documented process and information that state s consultants had ever seen

during legislatively imposed Best Financial Management Practices Review and earned highest percentage 93

percent of best practices in place of any district in New Jersey after taking charge of coordinating review

process.

Identified talented staff member to handle day-to-day coordination and convinced principals and district

management that review represented opportunity for improvement.

Supervise highly skilled and well-respected department directors, many of whom hold leadership positions in

statewide organizations.

Streamline operations of New Jersey s first Charter School District in collaboration with other members of the

Superintendent s Cabinet through eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic procedures.

Created employee suggestion program in which employees receive recognition and bonuses for ideas on safety,

efficiency, and cost-savings.

Reorganized division, trimmed unproductive staff, and vastly improved staff morale, communication, and

productivity, with two departments earning Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Report and

Budget Excellence awards from Government Finance Officers Association.

Accomplishments in Negotiation

Serve on negotiating team with School District s three unions.

Negotiated with ad hoc organization formed by substitute teachers to address working conditions and

compensation and collaborated with group to completely revamp pay schedule, providing annual compensation

increases linked to percentages given to regular teachers and opportunities to attend professional-development

classes.

Principal, Kellen Bateson & Company, PA Certified Public Accountants, Moorestown, NJ, 1993 to 1998

Assisted in negotiations to divest largest client of 50 percent interest in New Jersey Community Hospital.

Collaborated with attorneys to create system for handling indigent health care throughout South Jersey, consisting

of hospital services, health-department services, and private providers.

Played key role in successful campaign to preserve independent hospital taxing districts by testifying to legislative

delegation and legislative committees in Trenton.

Generated $400K annually at the time firm was sold up from $70K in annual revenues when firm started.

Shareholder/Principal, Bateson & Bateson, CPAs, Chartered, Moorestown, NJ, 1980 to 1993

Held various positions before becoming a shareholder; began as accountant serving small-business clients and

developed firm s auditing consulting practice; generated audit clients.

Solved problem for South Jersey Hospital Authority, which owed contractors hundreds of thousands in sales

taxes on Moorestown Hospital construction but did not have sufficient funds to pay them; conducted extensive

research of sales-tax laws and regulations; compiled brief supporting position that authority could avoid the taxes

and presented case to state senator and Department of Revenue representatives; won the argument where Price

Waterhouse had failed resulting in $1 million in tax savings for the corporation and a revision in statutes the

next year to eliminate problem my research discovered in the law.

K. Bateson page three

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2005

Completed University of Michigan Government Finance Officers Association, Ann Arbor, MI, Summer

2000; selected for invitation-only institute that included participants from all over the country.

Bachelor of Science in Accounting, New Jersey State University, Trenton, NJ, 1980

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION AND AFFILIATIONS

Certified Public Accountant

Member, New Jersey Department of Education Finance Council

Member, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Member, Government Finance Officers Association

Past Member, Non-profit Organizations Committee, New Jersey Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1985

to 1991; chaired subcommittee that wrote booklet entitled Financial and Management Considerations for Non-Profit

Organizations.

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