A healthy balance in higher education: CMA Amanda Whitewood helps drive progressive growth at Mount Saint Vincent University. (Profile).

Atypical day for CMA Amanda Whitewood is, well, atypical. And, like her work day, the vice-president, administration, for dynamic and growing Mount St. Vincent University (MSVU) in Halifax is not your typical business person; but, like all CMAs, she brings a unique, diverse and very effective set of business management tools to her work.

On this day, Whitewood begins with a breakfast meeting with the team from the university's physical plant, a morale-boosting get-together where Whitewood must inspire her team to work together to achieve the university's goals. From there, it's on to a session with the Pension Board of Governors to select an investment manager to handle the University's pension plans, "a rigorous thought process," she says.

After that, there's a meeting to talk about labour issues and a potential settlement for a former university employee. Later on, there's a roundtable discussion on financing options for a new residence building.

Did we mention that was just the morning? Lunch is a mentoring session with a bright and upcoming business student, one of many Whitewood helps to guide on their career paths. The afternoon features a brainstorming session on fundraising and community support for the university's next expansion, followed by proofreading a communications strategy for a television campaign. Later on, it's a meeting about implementing a staff opinion survey "to get a benchmark on how everyone is doing in their roles at the University."

That's just her day: from physical plant to pensions, from labour leaders to mentoring, large-scale planning to public relations. One day equals nine meetings, 15 topics and 30 decisions.

Then comes the evening. On this night, Whitewood presents the university's very first three-year business plan, along with the school's budget. Though it features a six per cent tuition hike for students, the budget still receives unanimous student and university board approval.

"The aggressive growth goals for enrolment, capital campaign strategy and technology strategy appealed to some," she says. "The plans to improve our residences and increase scholarships and bursaries appealed to others. The bottom line is that our business plan created balance, which is key to making financial strategies build brighter futures for large organizations," says Whitewood.

And then it's home, to husband Mark Nugent and daughter Madison. Madison was born just prior to Whitewood taking on her role at MSVU in 2001.

Growth and expansion

It's a combination of strong accounting and finance skills, financial planning savvy, people-skills-to-the-max and an orientation to the needs of a large and diverse organization that keeps Whitewood, and the university she serves, on track to achieve their goals.

Being a CMA really helps in her role, she says, adding that the value of being a CMA is in its diverse approach "and the ability to add value for your customers. It helps that we have a very vibrant campus with a strong board of governors charged with looking at a future that is all about growth."

And the vice-president's own professional growth is very much focused on the university -- an academic institution known as a leader in innovative education for women, with more than 4,400 students, half of them full time and many of them drawn from around the world.

Its enrolment has increased 13% over the past five years and it offers 200 courses; 13 of its programs are available through distance education, through off-site classes, the Internet and other technologies. MSVU saw a 26% increase in the number of students who transferred from other institutions, drawn by an innovative mix of programs that combine professional studies with the best of a liberal arts and science education.

These facts and figures sit well with Whitewood. "As a CMA, I'm always planning for the future. We're more focused on managing growth and expansion. That forms the core for a sustainable, positive environment for our students. They deserve a vision that is progressive and comprehensive and that recognizes the university's strengths."

That vision includes a $35 to $40 million investment over 10 to 15 years. In the short term, it means a $7 million expansion plan that will involve the building of a new 158-bed residence, with another to follow and the expansion and improvement of several campus buildings to create 15 new classrooms. To support this growth, the three-year business plan includes a fund for improving existing residences, a 50% increase in bursaries for students and significant growth in scholarships, including five new top awards of $28,000 each.

"The university is a leader in personalized, innovative education," says Whitewood. "It is the only university campus in Canada focusing on women's education within a co-ed environment. Our programs all have to have a component of access. We're catering to a market that we believe needs a lot of flexibility in how they meet their education goals."

In fact, Whitewood not only understands that market, she personifies it, having herself studied part-time while she worked. Having access to flexible education brought her quick success. Whitewood spent six years as a senior level executive with Nova Scotia's Capital Health Authority before joining MSVU. And she says it wasn't only her educational background and experience that made her a perfect fit -- the university also wanted the skills only a CMA could bring.

"They wanted someone who could raise the bar in performance-based information across our sector," she says. "They needed someone who could look at how we could differentiate ourselves as the special place that we are -- and package it in a way that everyone can understand it and get excited about it."

"I also fundamentally believe that while the CMA background gives you the technical confidence and the background as a broad-based professional, it also prepares you with life skills to deal with people. If you can't touch people in a special way and work with them as a leader to get them excited about a project, it doesn't matter what your technical skills are like."

On the fast track

Her own life experience is very much fitting for her role in helping young women achieve their academic and work goals. Born in British Columbia and raised in a bilingual environment in Montreal, Whitewood moved to Nova Scotia 20 years ago. She attended university part-time while working in accounting in the construction sector.

"I found that working while going to school positioned me ahead of my colleagues because I had a lot of work experience coupled with a progressive education," she says. And, while she always had a penchant for numbers, Whitewood also liked to pursue new ideas and projects.

Just such an opportunity presented itself when she was recruited to work in Australia for eight months as an operations accountant, setting up a yachting competition, for True North Yachting. Not only were the warm Australian seas a welcome escape from the cold Atlantic, Whitewood also managed to learn an invaluable business lesson.

"This role was my first real look at business from a global perspective," she says. "It renewed my commitment to education and my desire to get into management and build leadership within an organization."

Soon after, she went to work in the health industry and completed an education in health care administration, to complement her financial background while serving as a senior director in finance and facility services at the Central Region Health Board.

"I was on a fast track in government, gaining responsibility for $1.3 billion in funding. At that point, I thought that I probably knew enough about finance but I needed to know more about health care, so I completed studies in that area."

At 32, she joined the Capital Health Authority, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, immediately serving as vice-president, corporate services.

"I was quite young and it was a real challenge for me," she says. "It involved information technology, physical plant, human resources, finance and ancillary operations. I also got a sense of what it was like to work with a board of directors."

The job entailed handling major capital projects and budgets designed to drive the progress of the hospital system forward. Through it all, she gained great experience not only in accounts but also in dealing with people.

"I gained a real sense of how a CMA can provide people with information, especially for those who work in a volunteer capacity, in a way that makes information meaningful to them. It's great to see the spark in people's eyes when you can turn raw data into useful information for them."

While working in the health care system, Whitewood earned her CMA designation; she also received the E.L. Whitman Gold Medal and the Scotia McLeod Financial Services Award for outstanding academic achievement.

During her tenure with the hospital, Whitewood was given greater, broad-ranging responsibilities and, although she enjoyed the experience, she thought she was too young to get a CEO role any time soon. "The move to Mount Saint Vincent University was great because it's a competitive sector and offers fantastic opportunities."

A balanced Life

Seven-and-a-half months pregnant at the time of her interview with MSVU, she asked for -- and enthusiastically received -- permission to delay her duties with the university until Madison was born; in the interim, she consumed as much information and material about MSVU as possible to prepare for her new role.

At home, Whitewood's 16-month-old daughter helps maintain a focus on the importance and vitality of family. Her husband Mark is a forestry professional with Nova Scotia Power.

"It's great that Mark is in a career far from finance, so we don't have the business side of life to talk about at suppertime, which is a blessed relief."

Whitewood relishes her role with the university. "A CMA working in an academic environment brings skills that expand far beyond the parameters of standard financial planning," she says.

"One of the things that CMAs bring to the table in the socalled not-for-profit sector is the understanding of balance in that environment," says Whitewood. "In a university environment we want to do more than just reach the bottom line. We want to make everyone feel good about the direction that we're taking in terms of programs that we offer."

But as a CFO you have to balance the equation so that you can sustain growth. "We look at our liberal arts and sciences courses as the core of what we are about as an institution -- and we have to make sure that we don't go down the road of applying a cost accounting mentality to all those subjects. You have to know when to pull back and when to say, 'hey, the cost accounting training is great but the theory is not appropriate in this environment.' What it's all about is how we can enrich the experience of students and their life here at the University while constantly improving our financial health."

Whitewood admits that she is not too far removed from the demographic profile of the students herself: a working mother who toiled in various sectors while attending university and upgrading her skills -- and says, "again, I think that the Mount is strategic in its hiring. For the students to see a woman who is a vice-president and not yet 40, it should be very encouraging to them."

Whitewood takes her role as a mentor very seriously. She serves as a mentor for students in the CMA Strategic Leadership Program and was also a moderator in the CMA two-year program. She serves as a member of the Executive of the CMA Council in Nova Scotia and has served on boards and committees both provincially and nationally.

"I am really focused on fostering interest in the CMA designation. It's not just a designation -- it's about cross-functional leadership. The Nova Scotia Council decided a couple of years ago to raise the bar even higher. Now, students can enroll in a CMA/MBA program, a 28-month program that can help you in a career in management, irrespective of sector. This program will really position CMAs well in the new global economy as we move forward. As part of the executive council I have been able to work as a volunteer to really focus on our goal of crafting a new breed of CMAs who will excel in the world in a way we've never seen before."

Whitewood's own interest in management and leadership has deep roots.

"I inherited my head for numbers from my father, who is a financial professional," she says. "From my mother I inherited something more esoteric, but equally important: a dynamic, creative approach to work and life that inspires me to always let my imagination lead the way. I knew the CMA designation would let me use both these sides of my personality to excel as a leader. That's proven true beyond my wildest dreams."

John Cooper ([e-mail]) is a Whitby, Ont.-based freelance writer.