Executive Director, School Board School

The Centennial team is seeking an Executive Director for School Board School, a nonprofit that empowers aspiring school board members and education advocates by equipping them with the skills, mindset, networks, and experiences needed to serve in roles that impact students throughout a community.

Are you passionate about creating significant and sustainable changes in our public-school systems that positively impact students? Are you a visionary leader who has both the strategic and tactical abilities necessary to successfully lead the expansion of an existing Cincinnati nonprofit to a national level? Are you growth-minded and able to generate the necessary resources to support and sustain an expanding organization?

The Centennial team is seeking an Executive Director for School Board School, a nonprofit that empowers aspiring school board members and education advocates by equipping them with the skills, mindset, networks, and experiences needed to serve in roles that impact students throughout a community.

The right candidate for this position will ensure the Cincinnati program continues to thrive while successfully leading the nonprofit into new markets, ultimately creating a network of communities driving systemic change in their respective public-school systems. The candidate must be flexible, thrive in dynamic situations, be entrepreneurial, and be enthusiastic about creating a national infrastructure to expand and support the organization’s impact across the country. 

The position reports directly to the Board of Directors and will be based in Cincinnati.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Growth and Scaling

• Create a strategic growth plan aligned with the organization’s goals for reaching new markets
• Develop a process for determining a new community’s feasibility and the follow-through that will lead to signing a contract
• Recruit and vet new partnership opportunities to decide which ones should be pursued
• Co-create a “menu of options” for the services/intellectual property the organization offers
• Determine partner needs and match them with the organization’s existing services
• Develop a national infrastructure strategy to support scaling the program to national sites and manage the national network of sites as determined through site contracts
• Ensure national expansion sites receive all supporting services included in the contract, such as coaching of staff hired to run the local program and curriculum support as they customize their curriculum to their local context
• Coordinate program evaluations with external partners and utilize feedback to drive improvement

Fundraising

• Secure funding sources to ensure long-term sustainability, from national and local funders interested in supporting and scaling programs that drive systemic change in public education
• Develop and execute strategies to meet fundraising goals, including ways to bring in new donors and grants
• Draft and submit grant proposals and reports, sharing outcomes and stories of impact across the growing network
• Develop collective and cohesive stories about the work, highlighting member experiences and specific school outcomes, including how to best tell them in both words and graphics

Finance and Data

• Work with the Board and staff to create a plan to reach the organization’s revenue goals and support the overall strategic plan
• Lead the implementation of this revenue plan and track the organization’s progress against goals
• Develop a budgeting process that ensures sound forecasts of both revenue and expenses and continuously manage the budget throughout the fiscal year to achieve agreed upon goals
• Maintain transparent communication with the Board regarding overall financial status of the organization
• Collect and track appropriate data to monitor progress to goals and to include in storytelling
• Produce an annual report

Leadership

• Collaborate with the Board and staff to ensure the organization’s mission is fulfilled through strategic planning and effective execution
• Foster a collaborative, positive, and supportive culture where staff, members, and the board feel valued and heard
• Develop and manage (recruit, hire, train, retain) an organizational staffing model for a steady-state infrastructure and align it with the strategic growth plan
• Manage all legal and logistical aspects of running the organization
• Develop and execute on a knowledge management process that captures best practices, success stories, weaknesses and opportunities
• During initial tenure, build on the Cincinnati market’s positive reputation while increasing its capabilities and ensuring its sustainability; manage Cincinnati team members to Cincinnati-specific goals for impact; work with Cincinnati team members to ensure recruitment of a strong and diverse cohort for each year’s learning program

QUALIFICATIONS:

• At least five-years public education and/or nonprofit leadership experience
• Proven, successful fundraising and/or selling experience
• Experience with strategically scaling an organization/program and building out supporting infrastructure
• Experience hiring, training, and managing a staff
• Strong business acumen and financial experience, especially budgeting and forecasting
• Entrepreneurial-minded, able to adjust responsibilities as the organization grows
• Innovative and a go-getter mindset; goal-oriented and motivated by BIG GOALS
• Visionary thinker and detailed implementer
• Relationship builder and connection maker; collaborative and fosters teamwork to achieve goals
• Gifted storyteller who can share the mission and motivate others to get involved
• Inspirational leader who models the culture of the organization
• Equity mindset and understanding of how race, class, power and privilege impact our school systems
• Continuous improvement mindset (willing to try new ideas), using data to drive decisions
• Transparent and effective communicator comfortable serving as the organization’s public face
• Unquestionable integrity and politically savvy
• Minimum, bachelor’s degree required

SALARY:

Commensurate with experience, between $100,000 and $120,000 and bonus potential