Pillar Search is pleased to announce the search for Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont.
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President
Overview:
Yestermorrow Design/Build School is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization located in the Mad River Valley of Vermont offering workshops, certificate programs and semester programs for adult students from around the country.
Yestermorrow’s mission is to inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process. The intensive and experiential curriculum includes a wide variety of topics related to sustainable design, green building, architectural craft, and furniture making.
This is an exciting opportunity for a strong leader with a deep familiarity with and passion for architecture, design/build, sustainable and energy-conscious construction methods and experiential education. Positive, dynamic, and high energy, the President will be able to look at the big picture and identify future opportunities while managing the day-to-day activities and operations of Yestermorrow Design/Build School.
As an employer, Yestermorrow offers a supportive, collegial, entrepreneurial and inclusive working environment that fosters creativity of students, faculty and staff.
For more information about Yestermorrow, please visit www.yestermorrow.org.
Location:
Yestermorrow is located in Waitsfield, VT, which has been named “Best Town” and “Best Ski Town” by Outside Magazine. According to the New York Times, “”Well known as a winter skiing destination — it is home to the sprawling Sugarbush resort and ‘ski it if you can’ Mad River Glen — the valley reveals itself in warmer weather, when history, culture and a hyperlocal food scene come to the fore.”
Situated between the Sugarbush and Mad River Glen mountain resorts, Waitsfield is welcoming, easy going and breathtaking. For more information on Mad River Valley, please visit http://www.madrivervalley.com/.
The Opportunity:
The President is responsible for the fiscal, programmatic and functional health of the organization, in addition to serving as the primary advocate for its mission and steward of its reputation. As a school known for innovation, the President will foster a culture of thinking outside the box and creative experimentation to help Yestermorrow continue to be a place of cutting-edge design education.
The President will report to the Board of Directors through its Executive Committee.
Specifically, the President is responsible for all aspects of the school’s operations, including:
- Spearhead all fundraising activities for the school, including diversifying fundraising efforts to include major gifts, corporate and foundation giving, events, and planned giving
- Supervise the ongoing, phased implementation of the new comprehensive master plan for the school’s campus, including the construction of new shop and studio spaces, residences and other site improvements.
- Provide strong leadership and management to staff and faculty
- Raise regional, national, and international visibility
- Expand programs and outreach while maintaining the high quality of current programs
- Develop, implement, and oversee a strategic plan for Yestermorrow
Please note that this is a year-round position.
Primary Duties & Responsibilities:
Leadership, Management and Mentoring:
- Inspire and motivate staff, the board, faculty, donors and others to advance and achieve Yestermorrow’s mission.
- Hire, manage and leads Yestermorrow’s diverse administrative staff of seven (7) including individual staff managers for curriculum, enrollment, operations, facilities, development and communications, and semester programs.
- Serve as the public face and chief spokesperson for Yestermorrow, and advocate for its mission and goals within the greater community served by the school.
- Liaise with Board of Directors and work closely with all committees and working groups to ensure that board and committee meetings run smoothly and board efforts are coordinated and effectively targeted.
- Develop a consensus-based strategic vision of the next phase of Yestermorrow’s growth, and build enduring support and relationships among diverse audiences and communities around it.
- Manage with an inclusive and flexible style, combined with appropriate decisiveness, emphasis on accountability and ability to delegate.
- Clearly define goals with each staff member and develop results-focused performance metrics to ensure that goals and expectations are clearly communicated and that each employee is given opportunities to grow and be challenged in their roles.
- Regularly communicate with school’s faculty and incorporate their vision, interests and concerns into organizational planning.
- Create and implement effective operating systems to achieve the goal of organizational excellence.
Development, Fundraising, Community Relations and Outreach:
- Implement and complete an estimated $3 million capital campaign. This important fundraising effort will support the expansion of Yestermorrow’s campus, including new studio space, dormitories, and the restoration of existing buildings. The President will work closely with the Board of Directors, Development Manager, staff and faculty to carry out a broad-based fundraising plan targeting individuals, corporations, foundations and government agencies to support this initiative.
- Establish fundraising priorities to reach new audiences by directing marketing and outreach strategy (including alumni, parents, and “friends of Yestermorrow”).
- Develop and lead the fundraising efforts and identify ways to diversifying fundraising to include, in addition to annual giving, a major donor effort, special events, planned giving, grant research and writing, annual appeals, and endowment stewardship.
- Initiate, develop and support strategic initiatives, partnerships, alliances and collaborations with relevant institutions.
- Travel will be required to present to diverse audiences about Yestermorrow’s programs and impacts.
Administration & Finance:
- Facilitate and manage Yestermorrow’s financial and administrative work, including overseeing the preparation, monitoring and reporting of annual budgets and work plans.
Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:
The President will be a strategic thinker, a decisive manager, a proven team builder, a compelling communicator, and an effective and enthusiastic fundraiser.
He/she must be capable of managing a complex organization during a time of significant growth and change. He/she must have demonstrated experience as an Executive Director, President or equivalent, managing comparable staff and budgets, contracts, fiscal reporting, fundraising, outreach and marketing, and organizational development, as well as liaising with the board.
The position demands an entrepreneurial spirit – someone with a talent for articulating new opportunities, and a track record of implementing them.
The successful candidate will have the following:
Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree. Advanced degree is strongly preferred.
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience with private non-profit or public sector organizations.
- Experience professionally, or passion personally, for design.
- Proven experience in leadership roles, including the management of comparably sized staff and budget.
- Strong fundraising experience is essential, including experience across the spectrum of development.
- Experience either running a capital campaign or having participated in a significant manner in the successful completion of a capital campaign.
- A track record with the outreach, community building, and public relations side of running a mission-driven institution.
- Experience managing an institution during a time of major growth.
- Excellent speaking, writing and presentation skills.
- Computer literacy, Internet savvy, and comfort communicating in a variety of digital and other media.
- Occasional travel and evening and weekend work is required.
The salary for this opportunity is competitive and commensurate with experience.
For Immediate Consideration:
This search is being managed by Pillar Search. To apply, please send your cover letter and resume, including salary requirements, to Cindy Joyce at cindy@pillarsearch.com.
