Controller
Jose Rios joined Project Guardianship as the new Controller in January 2025. He has over 12+ years of experience in finance, accounting, and grants management, primarily within the nonprofit and human services sectors. Most recently, he served as the Finance Manager of Grants and Contracts at Educational Alliance, where he oversaw the financial management of a $55M+ portfolio of government and private grants. His role involved budget development, financial reporting, compliance, and optimizing grant utilization to support critical community programs.
Prior to that, he held leadership roles at organizations like Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, BronxWorks Inc. and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), managing multi-million-dollar budgets, streamlining grants management practices, and collaborating closely with program and executive teams to align financial strategy with organizational goals.
He has a strong background in financial planning, forecasting, and compliance, along with expertise in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and financial reporting tools. He's passionate about using financial strategies to strengthen nonprofit operations and maximize impact. He holds an M.S. and B.A. in Accounting from Lehman College and he is an Advanced Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional (CNAP).