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The Chief of Staff serves as a strategic partner and advisor to the President and CEO of Achieving the Dream and is responsible for the coordination, sequencing, and follow-through of the organization’s highest priorities. Reporting directly to the President and CEO, the Chief of Staff works across all divisions to advance organizational priorities, support the Senior Leadership Team, and steward the President’s Office.

The Chief of Staff manages ATD’s strategic planning process, including the engagement of the Board of Directors, staff, Network colleges, funders, and partners, and the translation of the resulting plan into organizational priorities, measures, and accountability. The position also serves as the primary staff liaison for governance, supporting the Board of Directors and its committees.

The Chief of Staff prepares briefing materials, correspondence, presentations, and remarks for the President and CEO, and ensures consistency of message across the President’s internal and external communications.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Chief of Staff supports coordination and accountability across divisions and holds confidential responsibility on sensitive organizational matters. This position supervises the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO.

Duties and Responsibilities

Executive Partnership and Presidential Support (25%)

• Serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to the President and CEO, and provide confidential counsel on sensitive organizational matters.
• Support the President in setting priorities, managing competing demands, and protecting time for the organization’s highest-value work.
• Prepare briefing materials, talking points, remarks, presentations, correspondence, and background research for the President, and ensure consistency of voice and message across them.
• Draft and coordinate the President’s written communications, including letters to Network presidents, staff communications, articles, and external contributions.
• Anticipate issues requiring the President’s attention and bring forward options with a recommendation.

Strategic Planning and Organizational Strategy (20%)

• Manage ATD’s strategic planning process end to end, including timeline, participation, facilitation, materials, and decision points.
• Coordinate engagement of the Board of Directors, staff, Network colleges, funders, and partners in the planning process.
• Partner with the Vice President of Research and Network Innovation to ensure the plan is grounded in evidence and supported by defined measures of success.
• Translate the approved plan into annual organizational priorities, division-level commitments, and reporting against them.
• Maintain the connection between the strategic plan, the annual budget, and the organization’s stated priorities, and identify where they diverge.

Board Relations and Governance (20%)

• Serve as the primary staff liaison for the Board of Directors and its committees.
• Coordinate development of Board agendas, meeting materials, and governance documentation, and manage meeting logistics with the Executive Assistant.
• Partner with the Board Chair and the President to support Board engagement, communication, and committee effectiveness.
• Track Board actions and commitments through to completion, and report status to the President and the Board.
• Support Board recruitment, orientation, development, and governance improvement efforts.

Senior Leadership Team Coordination (20%)

• Coordinate the work of the Senior Leadership Team, including agendas, materials, and the sequencing of decisions.
• Structure Senior Leadership Team agendas so that meeting time is used for decisions, strategy, and cross-functional issues, with routine reporting handled in written and asynchronous formats.
• Monitor progress on organizational priorities and hold follow-through on executive decisions and commitments.
• Identify cross-divisional issues requiring resolution and bring them forward with a proposed path.
• Lead high-priority cross-functional initiatives designated by the President, including initiatives that cross divisions without a natural owner.

President’s Office Operations (15%)

• Supervise the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO, and establish clear division of responsibility between the two roles.
• Oversee operations of the President’s Office, including correspondence flow, commitments, and internal and external requests for the President’s time.
• Establish and maintain systems that support the effectiveness of the President and the Senior Leadership Team.
• Manage confidential records and communications on behalf of the President’s Office.
• Maintain records of governance decisions, executive commitments, and institutional history so that continuity is preserved through staff and Board transitions.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated ability to manage a strategic planning process, including facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and translation of a plan into measurable commitments.
• Strong understanding of nonprofit governance and the working relationship between a chief executive, a board chair, and a board.
• Ability to hold peers and senior colleagues accountable for commitments without direct authority over them.
• Excellent writing ability, including the capacity to draft in another person’s voice and to prepare material for board, funder, and public audiences.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential and politically sensitive matters.
• Ability to synthesize information quickly and present options and recommendations rather than summaries.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to sequence competing priorities against organizational capacity.
• Ability to work effectively across all levels of an organization and to build trust with staff who do not report to this position.

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree required.
• Minimum of eight years of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, public service, or a related field.
• Experience managing or substantially supporting an organizational strategic planning process.
• Experience working directly with a chief executive and a governing board.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and projects requiring executive coordination.
• Experience preparing executive-level written materials, including board materials, remarks, and correspondence.
• Experience supporting organizational planning, decision making, and follow-through in a period of change.
• Strong understanding of community colleges, higher education, or mission-driven organizations.

Supervisory Requirements

This position supervises the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO. The Chief of Staff may also direct temporary project teams, consultants, or working groups assigned to strategic initiatives, and is responsible for the effectiveness of the President’s Office.

Success Measures

• A completed strategic plan with defined priorities, measures of success, and division-level commitments.
• Organizational priorities tracked and reported against on a regular cycle.
• Board and committee meetings supported with timely, complete materials, and Board actions closed out.
• Senior Leadership Team meeting time spent on decisions and cross-functional issues.
• Executive decisions and commitments completed on schedule.
• Presidential communications delivered on time and consistent in voice and message.
• Effective and well-run operations of the President’s Office.

The Vice President of Network Engagement and Growth leads the growth, retention, and relationship management of the ATD Network. Reporting to the President and CEO, this position owns the recruitment of new colleges into the Network, the renewal of current members, and the systems and practices through which ATD understands and serves each institution.

Growing the Network and deepening the value colleges receive from membership are organizational priorities set by the President and CEO and the Board of Directors. This position sets the growth strategy, carries the membership and earned revenue targets, and reports results to the President and CEO and to the Board.

The Vice President builds and owns ATD’s college relationship management model, establishing clear accountability for every institution, an authoritative record of membership, and a defined division of responsibility across the functions that serve colleges. The position also sets the strategy, audience, and participation expectations for ATD’s Network convenings, partnering with the Vice President of Network Coaching and Transformation on content and with the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on operations.

The Vice President oversees the Executive Director of Network Engagement and the Executive Director of Services Management. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Vice President contributes to organizational planning, budgeting, and decision making, and represents ATD with college and system leaders across the country.

Duties and Responsibilities

Network Growth and College Recruitment (25%)

• Hold accountability for the recruitment of new colleges, districts, systems, and consortia into the ATD Network.
• Develop and execute ATD’s recruitment strategy, and set annual growth targets in partnership with the President and CEO.
• Own the prospect pipeline from first contact through signed agreement, and ensure every prospect has a named owner and a documented next step.
• Maintain the pipeline in ATD’s system of record, with membership status verified at the point of qualification.
• Identify and pursue growth opportunities among prospective members, former member colleges, tribal colleges and universities, and regions where ATD has room to grow.
• Partner with Marketing and Communications on awareness, positioning, and campaign support for recruitment.
• Report pipeline status, conversion rates, and progress against growth targets to the President and CEO and to the Board of Directors.

Retention and Renewal (20%)

• Own the renewal of member colleges, including the annual network benefits cycle, invoicing coordination with Finance, and consequences for non-payment.
• Establish an early-warning process that identifies institutions at risk of disengaging, using indicators such as invoice status, event participation, coaching utilization, leadership transitions, and responsiveness to outreach.
• Define intervention expectations for at-risk institutions, including who acts, within what period, and how the outcome is recorded.
• Develop retention strategies appropriate to institutional maturity, including Leader Colleges and long-standing members whose transformation needs have changed.
• Own ATD’s institutional designations as an engagement and retention instrument, including Leader College, Leader College of Distinction, and the Leah Meyer Austin Award. Cultivate eligible colleges toward application, carry application participation targets, drive recertification of colleges whose designations are expiring, and re-engage colleges that applied without earning a designation.
• Partner with the Vice President of Research and Network Innovation on designation metrics, rubrics, and review integrity, and with Marketing and Communications on the annual awards campaign.
• Lead re-engagement of former member colleges.
• Report retention and renewal rates, and the reasons institutions leave, on a defined cycle.

College Relationship Management and Accountability (20%)

• Design and maintain ATD’s college relationship management model, including how colleges are assigned, the staffing and capacity the model requires, and the authority and escalation paths of the staff who hold the relationships.
• Ensure every institution has a current relationship owner, and that assignments are reassigned promptly when a staff member’s role changes or ends.
• Establish and maintain a single authoritative record of membership status, and ensure it is the record used across the organization.
• Ensure institutional knowledge is recorded in the system of record so relationships continue through staff transitions.
• Define, document, and publish the division of responsibility across Network Engagement, Services Management, Marketing and Communications, and Finance for each stage of the college lifecycle.
• Partner with Information Technology and Digital Transformation on the configuration, governance, and data quality of the system of record.

Convening Strategy and Network Experience (15%)

• Set the purpose, audience, and success measures for ATD’s Network convenings, including DREAM, the Data and Analytics Summit, the Kickoff Institute, and the Network webinar series.
• Determine which institutions and roles must participate in each convening to advance retention and growth, and own Network college attendance against target.
• Own registration revenue and Network participation targets for signature events.
• Partner with the Vice President of Advancement on event sponsorship, and approve the access, visibility, and attendee engagement offered to sponsors at Network convenings.
• Partner with the Vice President of Network Coaching and Transformation on session design, content, and learning outcomes.
• Partner with the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on logistics, budget, pricing, and registration operations.
• Ensure the convening experience functions as a demonstrable benefit of Network membership, and gather participant feedback that informs the following year.
• Own the recognition experience at DREAM, including how designated colleges and the Leah Meyer Austin awardee are celebrated, and ensure recognition is used to demonstrate the value of Network membership.

Contracting, Pricing, and Earned Revenue (10%)

• Oversee college-facing contracting, including scopes of work, renewals, and the internal approval path, in coordination with Finance.
• Recommend pricing for membership and services in partnership with the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and the President and CEO.
• Own earned revenue targets associated with Network membership and college services.
• Ensure contracting processes support a straightforward experience for colleges and accurate records for ATD.

Division Leadership and Organizational Contribution (10%)

• Supervise, develop, and evaluate the Executive Director of Network Engagement and the Executive Director of Services Management.
• Build the division’s staffing, skills, and structure to support recruitment, retention, and relationship management at scale.
• Manage the division’s budget and staffing plan in partnership with the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
• Serve as an active member of the Senior Leadership Team and contribute to organizational planning, budgeting, and strategic decision making.
• Represent ATD with college presidents, system leaders, associations, and at national convenings.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated ability to carry a membership, enrollment, or revenue number and report against it publicly.
• Strong knowledge of relationship management systems, including Salesforce, and of the data governance required to make a system authoritative.
• Demonstrated ability to design and enforce process across functions that do not report to the position.
• Experience building a pipeline discipline, including qualification, stage definitions, forecasting, and conversion measurement.
• Ability to diagnose why customers or members disengage and to act on early indicators rather than confirmed losses.
• Deep understanding of community colleges and the conditions under which a president or cabinet decides to join, renew, or leave a national network.
• Ability to build trust with institutional leaders over cultivation cycles measured in years.
• Ability to distinguish work that must be centralized from work that should stay with program and coaching colleagues.
• Ability to use institutional recognition as an engagement strategy rather than an administrative cycle, and to understand what a designation is worth to a president and a board.

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree required; doctorate preferred.
• Minimum of ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education, membership organizations, nonprofit leadership, or institutional partnerships.
• Experience building or rebuilding a membership, business development, or institutional sales function, including targets and accountability for results.
• Experience leading retention or renewal efforts and reducing attrition.
• Experience implementing or governing a customer relationship management system, and establishing it as the organization’s authoritative record.
• Experience defining roles and responsibilities across multiple functions and holding them to a documented process.
• Experience setting the purpose and audience for large convenings, in partnership with content and operations colleagues.
• Experience working directly with presidents, cabinets, and governing boards.
• Experience reporting results to a chief executive and a board of directors.

Supervisory Requirements

This position supervises the Executive Director of Network Engagement and the Executive Director of Services Management, and through them a division responsible for college relationships, recruitment, retention, network administration, relationship management systems, and college contracting. The Vice President is accountable for the performance and development of the division and for the growth and retention of the ATD Network.

Success Measures

• One authoritative membership count, produced from the system of record and reconciled on a regular cycle.
• Net growth in ATD Network membership against annual target.
• Renewal rate against target.
• A prospect pipeline in which every entry has a named owner, a stage, and a next step.
• Time elapsed between an at-risk indicator and a documented intervention.
• A published division of responsibility for the college lifecycle, in use across Network Engagement, Services Management, Marketing and Communications, and Finance.
• Network college attendance and registration revenue at DREAM and the Data and Analytics Summit against target.
• Earned revenue from membership and college services against target.
• Designation application volume and recertification rate among eligible Network colleges.
• Division staffed against the approved plan.
• Board reporting on membership, retention, and pipeline delivered on schedule.