CHIEF STRATEGY & OPERATIONS OFFICER
The Chief Strategy & Operations Officer is a newly created leadership role that will play significant role in ensuring operational systems are in place, creating accountability measures, and ensuring staff empowerment, leadership development, and commitment to the mission.
The CSOO will serve as a key leadership function, providing an active voice for the organizations strategic decision-making, providing management support and operational collaboration across the organization by designing and implementing systems and protocols to ensure annual growth. The CSOO will bring significant expertise in designing and executing multi-issue progressive policy strategy, campaigns, partnerships, and engagement. They will have a broad network of existing relationships with public officials and their staffs at federal and state levels and across the progressive policy-advocacy community, and a demonstrated ability to build trust with internal and external stakeholders, leading through influence and managing a team that works cross functionally.
Reporting directly to, and partnering with, the President & Chief Executive Officer, the CSOO will serve as a member of the executive team and will work closely as a thought partner with all staff across the organization.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES The Chief Strategy & Operations Officer will be accountable for but not limited to the following key responsibilities:
Executive & Organizational Leadership
• Lead a team of professionals, fostering a team culture that values learning and a commitment to excellence and equity and that attracts, retains, and motivates a talented, diverse staff.
• Establish and maintain effective communications and collaboration with all staff, ensuring consistent implementation of internal policies, practices, structures, and processes related to federal and state government affairs; and ensuring that the team meets internal and external deadlines.
• Be the trusted advisor on all issues related to and intersecting with programs, communications, advocacy, policy, people, and operations. Ensure efficiencies in policy and process across functions and help to foster an organizational culture of collaboration, communication, and compliance.
• Work with the President & CEO and staff to ensure that an equity lens, including a racial justice focus, is applied to organizational operations, including internal processes and infrastructure.
• Ensure disciplined organizational focus; clear goals, tactics, milestones, and metrics for success; and the necessary systems to track and share critical programmatic, operational, and financial information across the organization.
• Support leadership to develop annual plans, including operational benchmarks, timelines, and the human and financial resources needed to achieve goals, proactively recommending, and driving improvements as necessary.
• Provide effective coaching and staff development to further build the management capacity of internal leaders and their teams and promote a learning culture that supports professional growth.
• Support the President & CEO on the current budgeting process and appropriate financial stewardship within the organization.
• Provide strategic oversight to the team to ensure that routine office operations, relationships with partners/vendors, and all operational and administrative systems work effectively and smoothly to support the rest of the organization.
• Support technology initiatives ensuring that the platforms, software, and services in use continue to meet the evolving needs of the staff.
• Model and champion, excellence, integrity, and impact. Create a culture of belonging, ensuring effective collaboration of all people and efforts.
Strategy, Vision & Policy
• Serve as a member of the leadership team, working with the President & CEO, to shape the organization’s strategy and priorities; to integrate work across teams and functions; and to foster healthy communication and collaboration. Advise the President & CEO on key strategies and relationships across the movement and with key public officials.
• Develop strategic cross-cutting initiatives and partnerships that amplify In Our Own Voice’s policy work and expand the organizations’ influence and convening power, guide a broad group of stakeholders to align around shared reproductive justice policy priorities.
• Collaborate closely with the President & CEO to drive short- and long-term strategic and programmatic priorities, develop and achieve annual measures of success in alignment with the current strategic plan, and ensure that teams have the necessary resources and supports to achieve meaningful outcomes in their work.
• Stay abreast of political developments and keep leadership briefed on the risks and opportunities and manage coordinated rapid response to crises and opportunities engaging external stakeholders in overall response.
• Working with the Policy team, engage federal and state policy makers on strategies for the movement; develop and implement a government relations strategy, cultivating and maintaining relationships with federal and state policy makers and their staffs, especially those serving in leadership positions.
• Speak publicly and represent In Our Own Voice and its work to key stakeholders including policymakers, the media, funders, and other leaders of advocacy organizations; collaborate colleagues to develop and coordinate advocacy messages that are relevant and advance the agenda.
Qualifications Strong candidates will offer a genuine passion for the In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda’s mission and goals, strong operations management skills and policy experience, along with the desire to help shape the organization’s long-term vision and impact.
Other qualifications include:
• Ten or more years of experience conducting policy analysis, engaging public officials on reproductive justice issues, and navigating political and legislative processes at federal and state levels. Deep understanding of politics and achieving policy change.
• Experience working at a national level, and with boards of directors.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communications skills, including the ability to work effectively with a broad range of stakeholders by building trust and effective, genuine relationships.
• Demonstrated success building and directly managing a team that works cross-functionally; demonstrated ability to build trust with internal and external stakeholders and lead through influence.
• Ability to listen deeply, cultivate connections, break down silos, foster collaboration, and build a culture of trust within the division, across the organization, and with external stakeholders. Ability to establish credibility and trust with diverse constituencies.
• Excellent strategic planning and execution skills, including experience developing and implementing tactical plans to fulfill a broader vision or mission.
• Experience conducting policy analysis, engaging public officials on reproductive justice issues, and navigating political and legislative processes at federal and state levels.
• An understanding of the importance of an organizational culture of philanthropy and the role it can play in shaping a public policy agenda and creating better outcomes for a broad range of people and organizations.
• Impeccable attention to detail and ability to thrive in a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to centering diversity and equity in executing key responsibilities
• Experience working on Capitol Hill, in the White House or a federal agency, on political campaigns, or as a labor or social justice lobbyist.
• Courageous, results-oriented, agile, and resilient, projects confidence and steadiness, learns from experience, self-aware.
• BA degree required; advanced degree preferable.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Salary for the role is currently anticipated to range from $145,000 – $152,000, commensurate with experience. In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda is an equal opportunity employer.
CONTACT Liz Lombard and Angie Sessoms of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please fill out our Talent Profile or email Angie directly at asessoms@koyapartners.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.