James Baldwin Email & Phone Number

James Baldwin is a Sr. Director of Finance, FP and A and Finance Transformation at Wikimedia Foundation. He possess expertise in data analysis, microsoft excel, leadership, teaching, budgeting and 18 more skills. Colleagues describe him as "I worked with James directly as the President of the ARISE High School Board of Directors. James prepared all of our budget and operations related items for Board meetings and was responsible for the day to day financial accountability of the school. James' keen financial and accounting skills are responsible for the positive fund balance and consecutive successful audits. His ability to manage personnel and projects helped to build a strong operations team. At a small school like ours, it is critical that each member of the staff be able to assume responsibilities that they are not always assigned and James did this effectively, without hesitation. During the times when we needed to make adjustments to our budgets that involved cuts or reallocations, James provided information in a way that helped us to make prudent decisions. James always kept the financial health of the school as his primary focus and delivered difficult messages with skill, clarity and sensitivity. He has been an excellent steward of our financial livelihood, growth and health.", "I've worked with James as a colleague and later supervisor at ARISE High School from 2013-present. I am currently the Principal and he was employed first as a business manager, then promoted to be our Director of Operations and Finance. He supported the school's ability to shift our spending and budgeting practices so we could become a financially viable institution. When I stepped into a leadership position at the school he helped guide my understanding of school finance and, while I may have been his manager, he was definitely my teacher along the way. James' ability to organize, understand, analyze, and forecast our funding is the reason we are still a viable and healthy institution. Without any prior experience in school finance he learned very quickly to manage our finances and understand our budget. James is an amazing team player and asset. Our school in a very collaborative space. He has the unique skill set of being a money and excel guru and being sociable and great to be around. He collaborates well, leads well, and takes direction well. When it comes to working with people he undeniably exceeds expectations, supports the growth and development of others, and thrives in environments that support his growth. James is one of the most open minded and communicative individuals I have worked with. He's been open to constructive criticism from both peers and managers and always assumes positive intent, asks clarifying questions, and works through understanding what next steps will be. He is thoughtful and precise with his own messaging and asks for support if he needs help crafting what may be a challenging message to communicate. He doesn't shy away from challenges but also communicates his capacity to perform well.", and "As Co-Principal of ARISE High School, I served as Mr. Baldwin’s supervisor for the 2015-2016 school year. ARISE High School is a Title 1 charter school in East Oakland that prepares students to be the first in their family to attend college. Our track record of preparing students for success in college and beyond is noteworthy: 90% of our graduates were accepted into a four-year university. Mr. Baldwin came to ARISE in 2013 at a critical time in the school’s history. Financial mismanagement had left the school in dire straits and savvy financial leadership was needed to allow ARISE to continue serving the young people of East Oakland. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Mr. Baldwin rolled up his sleeves and focused his energy on moving the organization towards sustainability. Not only was he game to learn the myriad local, state and federal accounting and compliance systems mandated for charter schools, he brought expert finance and analytical skills to enhance both Leadership and Operations Teams. Through Mr. Baldwin’s expertise, and with the assistance of his Operations Team, he was able to strengthen the organization by creating more robust systems. His reach was wide: Mr. Baldwin supported ARISE in building a financially sustainable organization through his analysis and accounting skills, as well as his timely financial and project management. For example, Mr. Baldwin was able to reverse critical organizational debt and move ARISE into the black through more effective managing of all cost centers. In addition, after rebuilding accounting systems that were generating slow and inaccurate reports, he built an effective accounting team and managed monthly close-outs and audit processes. Once Mr. Baldwin got ARISE in the black – a not inconsiderable achievement - Mr. Baldwin modeled revenue and expenses, and forecasted income, scenarios and assets to build multi-year financial projections that would prevent future crises. These financially significant shifts were coupled with Mr. Baldwin’s investment in restructuring the Operations Team. He created time to team-build and clarify roles. In addition, he tasked himself with learning to better coach his supervisees by attending workshops and bi-weekly coaches’ meetings. Mr. Baldwin was consistently able to see from a systems perspective, helping those around him recognize how specific practices and roles influence the collective health of the organization. Additionally, Mr. Baldwin served as the voice of the Operations Team on major policy and financial decisions, and provided a key financial and operational outlook to the Leadership Team. Mr. Baldwin was an essential member of our ARISE family, and I hope to someday have the chance to work with him again. I highly recommend Mr. Baldwin for a Financial Planning and Analysis position in your organization. If I can provide any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Listed skills include Data Analysis, Microsoft Excel, Leadership, Teaching, and 19 others.