The Chief External Affairs Officer is responsible for developing and implementing Teach For America’s external affairs vision and strategy to:
- inspire, engage, and educate key constituents outside our network to advocate for access to an equitable and excellent education for all children; and
- leverage the diversity and scale of our network to drive learning, innovation, and collective leadership.
The Chief External Affairs Officer will oversee 375 staff members and a $55 million budget across our marketing and communications, development, public partnerships, and corps recruitment and admissions functions, ensuring the integration of these efforts and aligning the overall direction of our external affairs work to our core tenets; core values; commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness; and organizational strategy. The Chief External Affairs Officer will be a member of Teach For America’s Management Team and report directly to the Chief Executive Officer, Elisa Villanueva Beard.
Areas of Responsibility:
Provide vision and focus for a dynamic organization.
- Teach For America is a large, diverse and dynamic organization with activities occurring simultaneously in many locations and on a variety of issues, with a unique combination of prospects, corps members, alumni, staff, donors, partners and other constituents. The Chief External Affairs Officer must lead our external affairs teams in the work to inspire, motivate, coordinate and honor these multiple constituents in ways that advance the mission of Teach For America and ensure the organization communicates with one voice and a consistent set of messages.
Activate our base, allies, strategic partners, advocates, and donors.
- The Chief External Affairs Officer must lead the refinement of Teach For America’s digital and social media presence and focus the use of interactive media to engage our corps members, alumni, key stakeholders and the public. S/he must be able to lead Teach For America in leveraging the scale and diversity of our growing network by effectively communicating with our base and finding new ways to attract, retain, and activate a new generation of leaders and a broad and diverse base of donors, advocates, decision-makers, and partners. S/he must be skilled in coalition building and working in partnership with community and national partners to tackle legislative and policy needs on the state and federal level.
Represent and lead Teach For America’s public profile, enhancing the organization’s visibility and influencing public opinion.
- The Chief External Affairs Officer will position the institution to reach government and business decision-makers and influence public opinion on issues vital to Teach For America’s mission. It is essential that the Chief External Affairs Officer be able to set up the organization to convey Teach For America’s history, outcomes, impact, and narrative effectively, persuasively, and above the partisan debate to thought leaders, supporters, and the broader public through a wide variety of communication tools.
Manage through change.
- Teach For America’s ability to maximize our impact will depend on how well we manage uncertainty and a changing political environment and how nimble we can be in responding to the broader external landscape, including the philanthropic community. Managing these changes in ways that keep the organization relevant and at the vanguard of the education change effort will be critical for success.
Teach For America seeks a skilled individual with strong external relations experience at the intersection of advocacy, policy, communications and fundraising. S/he should be comfortable with and bring implicit credibility across education reform initiatives. The successful candidate will have a proven ability to:
- Translate high-level strategy into tactical implementation in the areas of public affairs, marketing, communications and development
- Set a vision for communications that extends beyond traditional one-way media relations, encompassing the key roles that thought leadership and stakeholder development play in supporting an organization’s mission and initiatives
- Build coalitions and invest constituents utilizing exceptional political acumen
- Navigate the workings of news media (print, broadcast, and online in national and local markets)
- Analyze program, policy, and advocacy issues and communicate findings and recommendations to a variety of audiences
Educational Background:
Bachelor’s degree is required. Advanced degree in Public Policy, Law or Business is preferred.
Skills/Experience:
- 10+ years of senior-level development, external affairs, marketing, and/or communications leadership with track record of success and progressively responsible experience
- A demonstrated record of issue-advocacy within fast-paced media relations
- Leadership experience in public relations strategy development and implementation
- A track-record of success with major gift fundraising and expertise with all aspects of development, including institutional giving, planned giving, annual giving and event management; strong knowledge of how marketing, communications and public relations can further fundraising efforts and success using these tools to improve and optimize development outcomes
- Prior experience in education is desirable
Skills
- Visionary and Strategic Thinking: The Chief External Affairs Officer will work with Teach For America’s senior staff to establish the external affairs plans, methods, and mediums to achieve its mission while providing the strategic direction necessary to evolve the organization's external relations strategy. S/he will work well across lines of difference to develop differentiated strategies with multifaceted approaches to address disparate audiences, cultures, and political contexts.
- Leading High-Performing Teams: The Chief External Affairs Officer will lead diverse, inclusive teams and oversee the management of a complex, fast-moving organization while fostering a culture of empowerment, collective leadership, and excellence, and hiring and retaining high-performing people. S/he will ensure Teach For America’s external affairs efforts function in a strategic, integrated and fiscally responsible manner. The Chief External Affairs Officer will set priorities decisively, delegate responsibilities, assure accountability and allocate resources to ensure results.
- Exceptional Presence and Communication Skills: The Chief External Affairs Officer will communicate with passion, energy, intensity and enthusiasm, making arguments in a compelling, nuanced, and concise manner.
The Chief External Affairs Officer will approach his/her work with:
- Shared Values and Desire for Impact: The Chief External Affairs Officer will embody and model our core values and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness; remain grounded in the mission of our organization; and commit to ensuring Teach For America is making a meaningful difference in the lives of kids and as a part of communities.
- Exceptional Judgment: The Chief External Affairs Officer will make timely and rational decisions and take appropriate risks to achieve results. S/he will be thoughtful about deploying the organization’s resources in a way that maximizes outcomes aligned with Teach For America’s organizational strategy and core tenets, while managing all types of risk, particularly reputational and brand. S/he will listen to and learn from key stakeholders (inside and outside of the organization), and be an independent thinker who can manage ambiguity and devise solutions even when a clear path is not evident.
- Strong Interpersonal Acumen: The Chief External Affairs Officer will be energetic, gracious, and comfortable navigating a complex organization to get work done. S/he will also operate with strong emotional intelligence, a collaborative working style, a high level of personal and professional integrity, and a balance of self-confidence with humility and awareness of his/her own strengths and weaknesses.
Work Demands
- Frequent travel is required.
Job Function:
Organization Info
Listing Stats
Post Date:
May 8 2018
Active Until:
Jun 9 2018
Hiring Organization:
Teach For America
industry:
Nonprofit