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Jim Hoke Starts New Chapter as Initiative Chief Financial Officer
Jim Hoke
Jim Hoke sees many of his contemporaries retiring and hitting the links. After nearly 40 years managing the finances of numerous for-profit and nonprofit organizations, he has accepted a new position as chief financial officer for the Initiative. "This opportunity came up, and the more I learned, the more fascinated I became," says Hoke, who started in late November. "I really like the idea of being associated with an organization that is not only trying to change the system, but also is advocating for better services for young people who face so many obstacles."
Immediately prior to the Initiative, Hoke was chief financial officer at the United Cerebral Palsy of Greater St. Louis, where he worked for eight years. Before that, he was executive director of the St. Louis Association for Retarded Citizens and previously CFO and director of development at Goodwill. The early part of Hoke's career was spent in the for-profit sector where he held various domestic and international assignments in the finance sector of Monsanto, NCR and the bio-tech startup, Kinetic Systems.
While Hoke has spent most of his adult life in St. Louis, he originally hails from Dayton. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, with a bachelor's degree in business administration and married his college sweetheart from nearby St. Mary's College. He returned to Dayton, where he earned an MBA with major concentrations in banking and finance and a minor in accounting from Wright State University.
Hoke's wife, Mary, has spent her career at nonprofits and currently is assistant executive director of Jewish Family & Children's Service of St. Louis. "Her entire career has been devoted to families and children," says Hoke, proudly noting that she recently earned her doctorate. "Seeing the kind of work she has done for the community got me thinking more about doing that too." The Hokes did not have any children of their own, "but that allows us to give a little more to other kids in the community," he says. The couple enjoys time with their two chocolate labs, Forbes and Callebaut.
Hoke likes to relax on the golf course, even if retirement is still a decade away. "The work here brings so much back to me," he says. "It keeps me young and engaged. I think you'll find more and more for-profit people entering the nonprofit sector and feeling both challenged and good about the work."
