Founded on the belief in the potential of all children and their right to an excellent education, Teach For America’s reach and impact have increased significantly in the last 28 years. In 1990, we placed 489 corps members in 6 regions. This year, our diverse network of 60,000 corps members and alumni are working toward educational equity in more than 50 communities across the country.
The Vice President, Network Summits will lead the strategy and planning for the 30th Anniversary Summit (30AS), which will be a convening of 10,000 TFA community members in Washington D.C., in February of 2021. The 30AS will foster a future orientation that inspires the community to reflect about the progress to date and the bold and visionary work that will be required to achieve educational equity in our lifetime. The VP, Network Summits will ensure the 30AS is co-created in partnership with our constituency and has vision and objectives that will enable exploration of the problem of educational inequity as we know it, foster an orientation to the future of education, and have collective leadership at the center. The person in this role will also lay the groundwork for the organization’s approach for future anniversary summits and steward those decisions for the organization.
The ideal candidate for this role will be motivated by the opportunity to shape the experience of the Teach For America network at this critical historical juncture. You have superior strategic skills to set vision and provide direction and are an entrepreneurial self-starter with the ability to operate at a high level and drive strategic decisions. You deeply believe in and practice collective leadership and understand and embrace the systems and processes required for co-creation. You must be highly skilled in planning and managing consequential projects with many moving parts, and adept at conducting analyses and facilitating group discussion that fosters efficient decision making. You have superior communication skills and are able to invest different audiences in the overall vision and strategy of the Summit. You thrive in environments of change, ambiguity and uncertainty, and demonstrate sound judgment related to organizational and interpersonal dynamics. This role requires maturity, flexibility, humility, and resourcefulness.
- Manage stakeholder involvement in the planning for the 30AS, including organizational leaders, corps members, alumni, staff, and external constituents
- Oversee (and in some cases perform) project management to ensure all aspects of the effort are moving forward successfully, and there is tight coordination with other organizational initiatives and activities as needed
- Develop and implement an effective budget strategy for the 30AS that optimizes opportunities for earned revenue to ensure the event is affordable
- Manage and empower a team of event design and operations experts that lead in ways that reflect the co-creation nature of the program design and execution
- Develop and oversee the creation of high-impact deliverables (documents, presentations, etc.) that reflect strong analysis and a deep understanding of the interests of various stakeholder groups (e.g. board members, senior executives, staff members, etc.)
- Build strong relationships with, and earn the trust of, key internal and external stakeholders at all levels
Set 30AS Vision and Direction (30%)
- Through collective leadership, shape and steward the vision and direction for the 30AS and its potential for lasting impact, working closely with the CEO, COPO, and senior leadership bodies
- Socialize the 30AS vision and potential for impact, and inspire staff and our broader constituency to the importance of network summit moments, this one in particular
Drive 30AS Strategy (40%)
- Drive and evolve the 30AS strategy, including tight management of planning milestones and identification of clear and effective success metrics that will ensure a successful 30AS
- Oversee the creation of co-created 30AS vision and objectives by leading and managing the efforts of the co-creation structures that will ensure the 30AS is developed in tight partnership with our constituents
- Cultivate a nuanced understanding of Teach For America’s theory of change, participant journey, and program continuum, and collaborate with the co-creation bodies to determine how the 30AS will engage each audience’s unique needs
- Partner with the Marketing and Communications team to ensure the 30AS design work is grounded in deep customer insights and audience segmentation, and identify 30AS design opportunities
- Manage conference planning vendors, event vendors and other partners to ensure a well-integrated operation leading to and during the 30AS
- Provide strategic vision to inform how national and regional teams can best contribute to and leverage the 30AS
Team Leadership and Management (30%)
- Serve on the leadership team and collaborate on shaping and executing integrated strategies and tactics that optimize the 30AS in relation to other organizational priorities
- Hire, manage, coach, and mentor a team of 3-5 staff members who bring the 30AS to life through extraordinary event design and operations expertise
- Experience in large scale conferences, event design and management preferred
- Deep experience with committee and collective leadership ways of operating
- Proven track record of developing sound strategy, running highly complex, multi-layered projects and successfully delivering project results across a diverse group of stakeholders
- Demonstrated commitment to the professional development and growth of others and ability to excel managing across lines of difference
- Experience with design thinking and innovation processes preferred
Skills
- Strong skills in developing and managing conferences and events
- Ability to operate in an agile environment, manage internal and external partnerships, navigate complexity, understand partner needs, and manage planning for and execution of complex projects
- Exceptional written and verbal communications skills; ability to bridge communication among staff and partners with diversity of interests, skills, and orientations to large scale events
- Ability to embrace a fast-paced environment, operate with a high sense of possibility, and an outcomes orientation
- Leads with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness in all aspects of the work
Work Demands
- Ability to travel for team meetings, co-creation and committee meetings, and other organizational engagements 2-3 times per quarter
- Ability to travel for extended periods of time, including over weekends, especially to D.C. and as the Summit nears
- Ability to work long hours on the weeks and days leading to the Summit and during critical sprints of planning and execution