Across Appalachia, we aspire for every student to have an empowering education. To that end, we are seeking an Executive Director to work towards this vision and to maximize Teach For America’s impact. We aim to build a movement of teachers (corps members) and alumni impacting thousands of students growing up in poverty. The Executive Director will inspire and motivate his/her team while creating a culture of excellence, urgency, and core values alignment—balancing our short-term work and long-term efforts in the community.
To realize the vision of growing and deepening our impact, the Executive Director will maximize our funding base of more than 1.4 million dollars annually; set the vision and direction for a corps of more than 35 in East Kentucky, an alum base of more than 150 across Kentucky and West Virginia and a staff of 6; and will play a critical role in the education reform movement taking place across the state.
Teach For America’s Executive Directors are part of the national senior leadership team at Teach For America and are at the forefront of improving the state of education in this country, impacting the future of thousands of children. The Executive Director for Teach For America-Appalachia reports directly to the Senior Vice President of Regional Engagement and will partner with a dedicated local board to work within Teach For America’s evolving operating model.
Set the vision and direction for Appalachia as a partner and leader in the state’s education community
- Chart the course for the region by creating a clear, compelling, community-based vision that is grounded in the landscape’s opportunities, needs, and problems
- Invest stakeholders in this vision
- Support the work of teacher leadership development to create a larger, more effective force of transformational teachers
- Develop a comprehensive strategic plan with outcomes and targets to achieve this vision
- Be the face and voice for Appalachia in local and statewide platforms
- Establish national and local networks of education leaders to understand best practices in education reform and how to maximize those best practices in the local landscape
Influence others to achieve outcomes in service of this vision by
- Seeking, listening to, and discerning diverse perspectives to formulate informed opinions
- Acquiring firsthand community experience to deepen insights and approaches
- Navigating and leveraging structures and relationships to gain support
- Acquiring knowledge of political and policy landscapes to deepen insights and approach
- Demonstrating adaptability in approaching and communicating with diverse audiences to cultivate support and inspire action
- Anticipating where conflicts may develop and surfacing, managing, and resolving conflict proactively and constructively
Provide cultural leadership to Appalachia by:
- Building and maintaining a culture that is grounded in our core values in partnership with staff, corps members, and alumni
- Exemplifying our core values in all actions with all internal and external constituents
- Creating an environment that fosters diversity and inclusiveness
Lead fundraising efforts and engage and cultivate stakeholders
- Deepen our political capital and fundraising capacity to ensure that Appalachia is a meaningful part of the educational fabric of the community
- Focus on significantly growing and diversifying a sustainable funding base that will include gifts from individuals, corporations, foundations, and districts
- Be responsible for a current budget that exceeds 1.4 million dollars
- Cultivate new and strengthen existing relationships with public officials and organizations that are statewide in nature – ranging from district partners, higher education institutions, education non-profits, and civic/social justice organizations – to maximize our scale and impact
- Partner with a regional advisory board who will help maximize Teach For America-Appalachia’s impact, narrative, and sustainability in the region
Provide executive management to Appalachia by:
- Attracting, hiring, and developing a team of diverse and talented staff members
- Ensuring that the proper infrastructure exists to maximize performance of all people and resources
- Managing a team (including through layers) to reach ambitious goals, especially goals that lead to our breakthrough results of:
- A connected, inclusive, supported, thriving community of corps members, alumni, and staff contributing to a powerful movement
- Corps members, alumni, and staff who have a consistently strong impact for kids both inside and outside of the classroom
- A large, diverse, and influential force of corps members and alumni working for educational equity and excellence
- Executing the fundamentals of not-for-profit management, especially board management, fundraising, and fiscal management (growing a diversified and sustainable funding base, monitoring the fiscal health of the region, and engaging Teach For America-Appalachia board members to maximize impact in the region
Make decisions and demonstrate judgment as the leader of Appalachia by:
- Exercising good judgment when facing new challenges and viewing situations through multiple lenses to weigh options and consequences
- Leading with integrity in ambiguous and/or paradoxical situations
- Constructing decision-making processes to engage multiple perspectives at the appropriate times to move work forward
- Enacting a suitable, timely course of action when making decisions
Prior Experience
- Significant leadership experience (minimum of 3-7 years) managing a high-performing team toward ambitious outcomes with financial accountability in a complex, mission-driven organization
- Demonstrated achievement in fundraising or ensuring financial sustainability of an organization, including an ability to mobilize people and create champions to support organizational mission
Skills
- Experience building and/or working in partnership with a Board of Directors, in addition to possessing a strong understanding of the roles of the Executive Director and the Board and a successful record of supporting the Board and leveraging talents and contributions
- Outstanding interpersonal skills and an ability and desire to develop and maintain deep relationships with variety of diverse constituents
- Understanding of the complexity of the local political climate that impacts Teach For America-Appalachia
- Experience navigating the political process as it pertains to elected officials, legislators, and staff at the state level, in addition to school district officials and school board members
- Excellent strategic thinking skills to understand and lead in a complex environment
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Strong alignment with, passion for, and commitment to the mission and values of Teach For America
- Sense of urgency around accomplishing goals and objectives
- Strong sense of self-awareness and understanding of one’s strengths and areas for development
- Commitment to exploring issues of race, class, and privilege
- Ability to deal with ambiguity and conflict
- Excellent judgment and sound decision-making skills
- Willingness and ability to learn about the Appalachia education landscape and establish oneself as a key partner in the local movement to fight educational inequity
Work Demands
- Ability to work some evenings and weekends.
- Ability to travel within the region daily and ability to travel to in-person meetings in various U.S. cities quarterly.