Tailored, cost-effective guidance to canada's not-for-profit sector
Karen Meades LLM, MBA, FCPA, FCA, CPA
With over two decades of experience in the strategic management and governance of Canadian non-profits, Meades Consulting provides a range of services that can help you meet the challenges that come along with today’s complex operating environment.
Karen Meades is a proven strategic thinker with a strong reputation for translating corporate mission into succesful, sustainable strategies. As a collaborative and flexible leader, Karen has applied superb business acumen and analytical skills to provide solutions that generate better outcomes.
Our Approach to Financial Management
It’s all about carefully reviewing and analyzing systems, processes and procedures, and recommending best-of-breed practices of not-for-profit financial management. We don’t simply take a snapshow – we drill deep, looking year-on-year comparables, and drawing valuable intelligence from the trends that are revealed. Areas of focus can include budgeting and accounting, revenue generation, internal controls, compliance related to relevant legislation, and the management of accountability to diverse revenue sources.
Professional Achievements: A Snapshot
- Haliburton Highlands Health Services – Interim Chief Financial Officer
- Shepherds of Good Hope: Bringing financial and resource development management expertise
to an Ottawa-based organization undergoing significant growth - Medical Council of Canada: Created an economic sustainability model for the organization, including investment and net asset policies
- Co-founder of Ottawa Health Services Network Inc. (OHSNI), a not-for-profit organization coordinating specialist health care in both Ottawa and Iqaluit for residents of Nunavut
- University of Ottawa Heart Institute: As CFO, responsible for finance and accounting, governance, oversight, and fiscal leadership
Additional Work and Accomplishments
- Commissioned research to better understand the high prevalence and profound consequences of smoking among pregnant women in Canada’s North
- Created a scholarship for Registered Nurses to further the advancement of nursing professionals in Canada’s North
- Inducted into the Women’s’ Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada Hall of Fame
- Internationally recognized ultra marathon runner, having completed the famous Four Deserts series
Areas of Specialization
- Organizational Leadership: Significant experience building and motivating teams in any modality: remote, in-person and hybrid.
- Strategic Finance Consultation: Focusing on variance analysis, cash and investment management, and expenditure monitoring, we provide scenario costing and modeling to help organizations build sustainability.
- Board Governance: Meades Consulting helps organizations manage senior volunteer leadership more effectively, introducing exemplary practices and implementation dynamics from a variety of governance models to determine the best approach for your organization.
- Cost Modelling/Policy: implementation of activity-based costing models that assign direct costs to each service line. Appropriate margins are then added to generate a positive bottom line to enable future investment in strategic initiatives.
- Monitoring Financial Health: Development of successful resource management from a variety of different perspectives; from the perspective of employee reporting on organizational financial health or as a president or board member receiving and analyzing reports.
- Strategic and Operational Planning: Leading and managing at the operational and strategic levels are integral to effective not-for-profit organizational management. We offer strategies that balance short-term and longer-term strategic needs, examining organizations in the context of others in their sphere, and drawing in contextual, long-term financial patterns.
Contact
Karen Meades
karen@meadesconsulting.ca
613-296-5446
Meades Consulting
Contact Us
Karen Meades
karen@meadesconsulting.ca
613-296-5446