James Baldwin

James Baldwin is Chief Financial Officer for Metropolitan Family Services, joining the agency in March 2020. As CFO, Baldwin is responsible for managing Metropolitan’s budget and financial strategies by overseeing the finance and accounting team and the capital projects team. Baldwin was instrumental in navigating the agency through the COVID-19 pandemic by overhauling the budget process, obtaining new capital financing, and maximizing various stimulus funding streams. In 2022, Baldwin led the project of being awarded New Markets Tax Credits of $11M to expand and renovate the agency’s Midway and Jones Centers. Baldwin also led the efforts to fully fund and de-risk the agency’s legacy pension plan and vastly improve the agency’s 401k retirement plan in the process.

Previously Baldwin was with the Haymarket Center in Chicago, where he served as CFO since August 2017, overseeing all financial operations, insurance billing and information technology for the $25 million behavioral healthcare provider. His accomplishments included designing and implementing financial turnaround from five successive years of average deficits of $300,000 to a surplus of more than $1 million in the following two years, doing so through sustainable program budgeting and revenue optimization.

Before his role with Haymarket Center Baldwin was Chief Accounting Officer for Heartland Alliance in Chicago. There he was responsible for all accounting and finance for the consolidated entities and affiliates of the diverse international alliance of nonprofits with more than 1,500 staff, $200 million in assets, and combined operating budgets of more than $150 million. Prior to that, Baldwin was Controller for Heartland Human Care Services, where he turned a $1.3 million operating loss to surpluses of more than $1 million in four years.

Baldwin is the Board Treasurer for both the National Peace Corps Association and the Chicago Area Peace Corps Association, having served from 2010-12 with the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan working on microfinancing benefitting women entrepreneurs and groups of farmers. He also serves as the Board Finance Chair for Heartland Human Care Services. 

Baldwin was a Signature Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago, received his MBA from Loyola University, bachelor’s from Augustana College, and was a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).