Teach For America alumni are a critical piece of the movement for educational equity. Our alumni are leading change in Chicago and Northwest Indiana at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. In addition to the education field, hundreds of others will play roles in the community as faith leaders, activists, business leaders, non-profit leaders and more. The Alumni Leadership team is charged with supporting, developing, connecting, and retaining our alumni so we can realize equity for kids on an urgent timeline. The Director, Alumni Network Strategy (D,ANS) will ignite and mobilize our growing alumni force by creating vision and strategy that builds our alumni collective identity and increases the overall alumni experience in a positive way. As the D,ANS you will help us define our beliefs and approaches to network wide engagement and involvement as well as our bets and strategies for collective leadership and impact. On the network wide strategy level you will help us determine how we can best mobilize the most alumni in the most strategic ways for critical programming, events, and roles in our organization and city. This will include helping the larger alumni leadership team build out best practices for engagement within our 3000 strong alumni base as well as ensure we are approaching network wide engagement in an inclusive and equitable way. The D, ANS will also be responsible for specifically working to create a set of collective leadership networks within our alumni base to drive and impact change in our city (alumni of color, LGBTQ alumni, alumni leadership council, etc.). In addition to being a key lead on network strategy the D, ANS will manage a Manager of Network strategy to support the overall efforts of our work in this area. Finally, the D, ANS will also be charged with helping us to set vision and build out our regional social innovation efforts. This includes but is not limited to helping us create and define partnerships, create and manage programs, and build theory on Teach For America’s role in this field of work.
You will be one of the most member facing roles and it is essential that you are a constant, professional steward of Teach For America’s work and theory of change. This is an excellent opportunity for you if you are an exceptional relationship builder, have experience building coalition amongst diverse groups of people and are well versed with principles of adult leadership development. The Director, Alumni Network Strategy is a member of the Alumni Leadership Team and reports to the Senior Managing Director of Alumni Leadership.
Program Design & Facilitation (40%)
- In alignment with alumni leadership 2020 metrics and goals and under the guidance of the SMD, Alumni Leadership set vision and direction for network wide strategy, engagement, and programming (including the implementation and testing of new and innovative network wide engagement strategies)
- Develop frameworks and tools to support measuring and scaling our collective leadership impact and lead the learning cycle around collective leadership networks ongoing (create a white paper, lead team wide step-backs, partners with national team members)
- Drive and manage strategy development and program management for collective leadership networks. Including our alumni of color network- The Collective, the alumni leadership council, and our alumni LGBTQ group- PRISM (recruitment, selection, launch and management of training and development of ongoing leadership and boards).
- Act as a liaison between national CLE support for Collective, Leadership Council, and PRISM (this include managing the selection and management of alumni attending national trainings and workshops).
- Act as a liaison to LEE connected to the implementation and roll-out of collective leadership strategies, events, and programming (managing an annual summit for collective impact and leadership in line with LEE’s regional organizing workshops).
- Set vision and direction for our social innovation strategies and manage the programming and support for existing social innovators in our network and the cultivation and training of the next generation of social ventures/innovators
- Set vision and manage an annual social innovation program to celebrate the impact of existing social innovators and cultivate interest in new social ventures.
Community Building & Culture Activation (25%)
- In partnership with the SMD, alumni leadership and M, Alumni Network Strategy develop and execute strategies that strengthen the health, community, and connectivity of our broader alumni base
- Under the guidance of the SMD, alumni leadership set vision and direction and metrics for strategies to increase and diversify alumni engagement, communication, and involvement (increasing the efficacy of attendance, access to information and programming, and diversity of corps years, ethnicity, and sector of alumni)
- Serve as a constant connector of alumni to alumni, and alumni to resources which will support their leadership trajectory
- Drive the vision and strategy and management of our alumni community platforms and connectivity of alumni to alumni. Specifically, support the integration of the alumni community platforms (CONNECT) with our collective leadership networks and strategies and support the Manager of network strategy in execution of CONNECT strategies
- Support the management and implementation of annual alumni survey and its connection to our alumni engagement strategy
- In consultation with M, Alumni Network Strategy set strategy and vision for collecting alumni input and gauging alumni culture/experience ongoing (create culture surveys, do focus groups, culture sampling 1x1s, etc.)
- In partnership with the external affairs team set vision and direction and manage the annual alumni giving campaign and alumni engagement and involvement in this process
Management (15%)
- Be an effective manager of the Manager, Network strategy; develop them into a high-impact contributor
- Collaboratively set direction for their work, manage their execution, and coach and motivate them to make profound contributions to the network strategy work
- Foster their values-orientation and leadership as a member of the alumni leadership team, and regional team
- Partner with the SMD, Alumni Leadership to strengthen the Alumni Leadership Team’s strategy and impact
Team Responsibilities (10%)
- Prepare for and lead check ins with your manager around progress toward your goals and your ongoing development
- Coordinate with members of the program team to ensure clarity of vision and alignment with alumni experience milestones and intended outcomes (arc of experience)
- Collaborate with members of the program team to execute against collective team goals and support the administration of regional and national initiatives (alumni survey, etc.)
- Consistently track and maintain updated data in our TFACT database to ensure accuracy of information about alumni instructional leaders and reporting on programmatic outcomes.
- Partner with the national Teach For America CLE team and other regional alumni teams to leverage career resources and programming facilitated by the national organization.
Collective Responsibilities (10%)
- Fulfill foundational responsibilities that allow our region to do our work, make decisions, grow as professionals, and strengthen our team culture, including but not limited to attending regional meetings, operating with our Core Values and commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness, completing our performance management cycle, and upholding our data management, office operations, and fiscal responsibilities
- Make a direct impact on the organizational mission of enlisting, developing and mobilizing leaders to strengthen the movement for educational equity by participating in by participating in selection (~6 days total plus preparation and close out time), matriculation (up to six windows across the year), supporting our alumni data clean up within TFACT and supporting Induction for 2-3 days and other initiatives that impact our members and partners
- Experience supporting group leadership models or programming (Professional Learning Communities, etc.)
- Experience designing and executing strong, outcomes-based programming required
- Experience in organizing or coordination of volunteers
- Minimum of 4 years work experience required
- Teach For America Alumni Experience preferred
Functional Expertise/Experience:
- Knowledge of leading practices related to group leadership models and organizing for change
- Experience designing, implementing, and assessing adult leadership programming
- Experience providing individualized coaching and training for group leaders (chairs, board leadership, etc.)
- Experience creating and managing recruitment, application, and selection processes
- Knowledge of our experience with social innovation in education
- Robust project management experience
- Experience setting vision for projects, programs, and events
Core Role Competencies:
Setting Vision and Direction
- Setting vision and direction for our regional alumni engagement strategies, the development of tools, metrics, and priorities for network strategy, and the future state of our social innovation work
Building Relationships and Influencing Others
- Designs and implements programs and activities that foster a robust member culture and network, especially around developing the culture of groups
- Leverage and cultivate relationships with partners and other regional non-profits in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana region to maintain and inform our strategy on network engagement and collective leadership best practices
- Leverages the leadership of alumni leaders to initiate and sustain affinity spaces and a robust, connected alumni community
- Able to influence change and leadership through others (specifically board leadership models)
Making Decisions & Demonstrate Judgment
- Ability to independently use multiple pieces of information to generate solutions and recommendations and make timely decisions.
Work Demands
- Will need to be available for work activities 1-2 evenings a week and 1-2 weekends per month
- Will need to travel independently throughout Chicago for meetings and events
- Limited overnight travel required for national conferences (travel paid for by Teach For America)