Chief Executive Officer (Eau Claire, WI)

Position Title: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Department: Operations
Reports To: Board of Directors
Hours/Days: Full-Time Exempt
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Deadline to Apply: Until the Position is Filled
Salary: $60,000-$100,000 (salary and bonus structure negotiable)

 

Job Purpose

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin (BBBSNW) seeks to hire a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the organization through its next phase of growth. The CEO will collaborate with the Board of Directors, the agency’s Leadership Team, and with other agency partners and stakeholders to deliver a vision and implementation plan for the organization. They will also ensure that BBBSNW’s fiscal, fundraising and development, marketing and communications, human resources, and operations strategies are effectively implemented. The CEO will act as a trusted thought partner with the Executive Board to support the management of BBBSNW’s leadership team and staff and align overall business processes.

Job Qualifications:

Education:

  • Bachelor’s Degree/Master’s Preferred from an accredited college/university in a related field

Skills and Knowledge:

  • Board development
  • Fund development
  • Financial management
  • Excellent verbal/written communications
  • Ability to lead complex, multi-component projects to successful outcomes
  • Ability to negotiate and influence effectively in high-impact situations with stakeholders at all levels
  • Ability to effectively motivate, develop and manage the work of others in a dynamic, complex, and fast-paced work environment

Board identified experiences as most important of a CEO:

  • Leading the development and execution of a vision
  • Leading an organization through significant growth and transition
  • Leading fundraising and revenue generation in non-profit community
  • Leading and developing partnerships with aligned public, private and community organizations

Job Responsibilities:

Strategic/Business Planning and Execution – Develop and drive the strategic/ business plan of the organization within the context of the nationwide strategic direction; drives a collaborative process with the Board and staff. Uses performance metrics and quality indicators to guide operational decision-making.

Fund Development – Instills a culture of philanthropic giving in the agency, supported by public messaging. Pro-actively ensures that the organization develops strong, long- term relationships with large scale individual, foundation and corporate donors/funders. Personally builds and maintains key relationships to ensure fund development strategy is achieved.

Board Development and Support – Cultivates a strong Board of Directors willing to lead and contribute to the fund development success of the organization. Participates in the identification and recruitment of new Board members, ensuring that the board reflects the diversity of the community the agency serves. Works to assure independent governance oversight and performance accountability of the board and the CEO.

Talent Management – Ensures the agency attracts, retains, develops and leverages staff talent necessary to support strategic/business plan. Ensures mechanisms are in place to recruit and retain qualified diverse talent including creating a culture of inclusiveness. Creates an environment where staff is engaged and performing at high levels. Institutes and utilizes an effective performance management system for all employees that include annual objective setting and evaluation.

Financial Management – Oversees financial management. Develops plans that maximize the financial strength of the agency without adversely affecting other criteria of success (e.g.; customer satisfaction, quality/impact of service). Ensures that appropriate fiscal controls and procedures are in place to ensure transparency and accountability. Communicates the key performance levers and manages to these measures.

Program Impact – Ensures that comprehensive marketing and other engagement strategies are developed to attract, engage and mobilize significant numbers of volunteer mentors that reflect the community agency serves. Ensures programmatic excellence and maximum program impact is achieved by establishing operational benchmarks, setting timelines and making child safety a priority.

External Relations – Represents Big Brothers Big Sisters at external events and with the media. Builds strong external relations that promotes Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission and enhances the brand. Positively influences partners, the media and public policies to generate volunteers, donors and other resources.

Leadership Competencies/Attributes

Vision:

  • Imaginative forward-thinking; views complex situations from multiple angles
  • Tells engaging stories that weave together interesting connections within the context of stakeholders’ values and needs
  • Creates win-win situations even when a situation seems hopeless
  • Inquisitive and effectively recycles/recombines existing and novel ideas

Judgement:

  • Makes consistently wise decisions about which growth opportunities make the most sense for the organization and steer clear of unproductive initiatives.
  • Makes sound decisions in complex, ambiguous situations
  • Cuts through complexity and large amounts of new data to focus on the most important issues; asks effective questions to ascertain when he or she needs to know to make effective decisions
  • Makes tough decisions with limited resources; knows when to say no to requests that are superfluous or unproductive.
  • Makes decisions with a clear understanding of the organization’s overall vision.
  • Effectively determines if a new idea has the potential to be effectively implemented Emotional Intelligence
  • Open to new ideas and consistently questions own approaches and the status quo
  • Highly self-aware and in control, and as a result, projects an image of being comfortable in his or her own skin
  • Open to performing activities in fundamentally new ways, even though the old way may have worked fine in the past
  • Engages in serious reflection when setbacks occur and makes necessary adjustments
  • Keeps an open mind and brings others into the loop to solicit fresh ideas and constructive criticism

Empathy:

  • Accurately sizes up and connects with individuals with radically different styles, backgrounds and personalities
  • Determines the best way to communicate his/her vision to a wide variety of constituents, each with his or her own motivation, vantage point and underlying agendas.
  • Quickly and accurately analyzes how different constituents will react to proposed changes and then custom-tailors his or her message to resonate with each
  • Constructs stories that strike a chord across a variety of stakeholders; does not have a one-size-fits-all approach
  • Understands how others will likely react to major cuts and change in strategic direction and preemptively addresses these concerns

Courage:

  • Able to present radically new ideas and plow forward despite resistance from powerful, entrenched constituents
  • Has strong moral center and is able to stand up for important values and goals
  • Willing to take educated risks and venture into ambiguous situations

Work Environment/Physical Requirements

  • Routine office environment. Flexible work hours to meet agency needs.
  • Must have car, valid driver’s license, and meet state required automobile insurance minimums.

Application Instructions:

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to ceosearch@bbbsnw.org
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, or non-disqualifying physical or mental handicap or disability.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Applicants as well as employees who are or become disabled must be able to perform the essential duties & responsibilities either unaided or with reasonable accommodation. The organization shall determine reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Job Responsibilities

The previous statements reflect the general duties, responsibilities and competencies considered necessary to perform the essential duties & responsibilities of the job and should not be considered as a detailed description of all the work requirements of the position. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin may change the specific job duties with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.