Senior Vice President Of Impact

About College Possible

As one of the largest and most successful college access and success organizations in the country, since 2000 College Possible has empowered more than 85,700 students on their path to earning a college degree. Its pioneering model matches eligible students with a near-peer coach and an evidence-based curriculum designed to help them overcome the most common barriers to getting into college and completing their degree - all at no cost to students or their families. Compared with their peers from similar backgrounds, College Possible students are 30% more likely to enroll in college the year after high school graduation, and three times more likely to earn a bachelor's degree.

College Possible is a proud AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps is a federal agency that brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges through national service. Our AmeriCorps members commit to a year of service as College Possible coaches in communities throughout the country. Many represent the identities of the students they serve, and each brings a commitment to social justice and closing the college equity divide.

Our near-peer coaching model has earned national recognition: the inaugural Evergreen National Education Award recognized our leadership in increasing access to and success in college for students from low-income backgrounds. It also earns top-of-field results: a Harvard study found that the program more than doubles a student's chance of enrolling in a four-year college, and our students are four times more likely to become college graduates than their low-income peers. College Possible has an annual operating budget of ~$33.5 million, more than 190 full-time employees and more than 245 AmeriCorps and VISTA service members. During the 2021-2022 school year, we reached an estimated 25,700 students nationwide.

Headquartered in Saint Paul, MN, College Possible operates regional sites in Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Omaha, NE; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; Saint Paul, MN; and Seattle, WA; as well as Catalyze partnerships in California, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

College Possible is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, and seeks to build a diverse workforce to create impact in partnership with the communities we serve. We welcome a diverse pool of qualified applicants. For each of its positions, College Possible is mindful about what best serves our students, and seeks to hire staff with relevant experience, skills and aptitude, and a commitment to the power of education.

Equal Opportunity Employer

College Possible is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, or status with regard to public assistance. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. We provide reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals and conduct all possible activities in fully accessible settings. Alternative application formats are available upon request by contacting hr@collegepossible.org.

Your Role as Senior Vice President of Impact

The Senior Vice President of Impact serves as a trusted leader between site leadership and the CEO. You are the senior leader leading the collective impact of our eight site-based programs across the nation. You provide direct supervision to Executive Directors and inform the strategy that will allow sites to achieve consistent results in sustainable student impact results through smooth operations all while building a strong culture. Working in a complex, matrix organization, you leverage a diverse set of leadership experiences and skills, which equip you with a thorough problem-solving approach. You navigate ambiguity and are not afraid to address difficult internal challenges. As an innovator, you are astute at assessing problems, designing creative solutions, and implementing new initiatives to drive outcomes as we fulfill our mission to impact more students better.

With an emphasis on sustaining and growing our impact across our sites, you serve as a connector, develop strategic partnerships, and cultivate community within College Possible and externally. In partnership with site Executive Directors and the National Leadership Team, you work to accelerate our impact by creating and driving strategy and creating concrete solutions to remove obstacles along the way. In doing so, you work to increase the capacity necessary to streamline, sustain and expand College Possible's work-across national and regional sites.

In this role, you work to constantly find ways to improve effectiveness and efficiency across the regional sites and national organization related to driving student impact. This includes working in concert with the all the senior leaders, your peer group, to address new and emerging strategic goals, serve as an effective peer in raising issues that emerge at the site level and resolving them in a timely manner.

The Senior Vice President of Impact is integral to the culture, effectiveness, and impact of College Possible:

Site Leadership (75%):

• Provides direct management, evaluation, and coaching to Executive Directors and provides interim site leadership, when needed.
• Manage annual site planning in support of, and alignment with, broader organizational strategic goals.
• Manage and ensure progress toward meeting or exceeding annual site level objectives.
• Lead and ensure consistent and cascaded key organizational messages are occurring at each site.
• Works in partnership with executive leaders and national leaders to develop the strategy and assess each site to identify areas of strength and identify gaps and opportunities across sites.
• Conducts site sustainability assessments annually and for out years.

Operational Leadership (20%):

• Lead national operations related to strategic site real estate decisions and that regional site operations are executed efficiently.
• Advise on and ensure the success of a robust operational excellence strategy aligned with the organization's long-term goals, focusing on driving efficiency, reducing costs, and improving overall operational performance.
• Effectively communicate operational excellence initiatives, progress, and results ensuring alignment and support from executive leaders.
• Working in conjunction with Senior Vice President of Technology and Finance, identify, evaluate, and optimize critical business processes, systems, and workflows to eliminate waste, increase productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction.
• Works with sites and national teams on AmeriCorps recruitment, reporting and national lobbying efforts.

Organizational and Strategic Leadership (5%):

• In partnership with the Executive Leadership Team, oversees the development of a multi-year revenue plan to achieve the organization's strategic plan.
• Works in partnership with CEO and other executive leadership team members to help devise the strategy and assess each site to identify areas of strength, measure progress against key objectives and identify gaps.
• Assists site Executive Directors and Site Board Chairs in identifying and onboarding local board members and forming cross-site working groups.

What You Bring

Education:

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Master's degree preferred.

Relevant Experience/Background:

• A minimum of 15 years of relevant experience including at least 5 years of executive leadership in a multi-unit, national organization.

Additional Experience:

• You possess a proven high degree of integrity, ethical decision-making, and sound business judgment.
• You are equally comfortable and adept at cultivating relationships, driving strategy, and facilitating best practices in operations.
• You possess strong financial competence in budgeting and revenue goal setting, strategy, and execution. As a competent strategist and leader, you manage a three-prong effort to:
  • Impact organizational outcomes,
  • Lead the national strategy for sites,
  • Support site Executive Directors through a centralized national model.
• As such, you must excel at working cross-functionally and building relationships with all levels of the organization to identify challenges and opportunities.
• Strong communicator.
• You are an innovator and possess an entrepreneurial attitude.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to lift up to 15 pounds when needed
• Office environment with limited travel
• Ability to stand and/or sit for a minimum of 7 hours a day

What We Offer

As a committed, diverse, values-based organization, we offer:

• A competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Excellent benefits including complete health, dental, life, short-term and long-term insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Encouraged sustainability through a generous paid time off program
• Personalized professional development and growth opportunities
• An opportunity to have a tremendous impact both internally and across the country