Pillar Search is pleased to partner with Yestermorrow Design/Build school on their search for a new Executive Director.
About Yestermorrow Design/Build School:
Yestermorrow Design/Build School is a non-profit educational organization located in the Mad River Valley of Vermont offering an array of design/build programs shaped by sustainable and resilient design thinking. Programs offered include 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. For more information about the school, please visit www.yestermorrow.org.
Job Overview:
The Executive Director is responsible for the fiscal, programmatic and functional health of Yestermorrow Design/Build School, in addition to advocating for its mission and being a steward of its reputation.
Specifically, the Executive Director is responsible for all aspects of the school’s operations, expanding programs and outreach while maintaining the high quality of current programs, and attracting significant new resources and talent to this well-established, growing nonprofit organization.
Operational responsibilities will include:
Operations & Staff Management
- Management and development of the office and facility staff, which range from 8-18 members throughout the year, plus an additional 100+ external faculty members.
- Direct supervision for all key staff across departments. Prioritize staff’s work plans, guide departmental budgeting/goal setting, ensure mission-alignment and financial sustainability with all staff and projects
- Lead the organization on a day-to-day basis, troubleshooting and quickly responding to any issues that may arise
- Manage all external vendors and operations-related contracts, including computer systems, office equipment, and facilities maintenance
Financial Management
- Financial guidance and forecasting, in conjunction with the Board of Directors
- Preparation of monthly Executive Committee and quarterly financial Board reports
- Support the Financial and Administrative Assistant with accounts payable (vendor invoices), Accounts Receivable (student and client invoices and income), manage cash receipts and banking
- Manage bi-weekly payroll, employee benefits, 941 monthly tax deposits, quarterly tax reports, annual W2 and 1099s
- Oversee all organizational purchases and inventory management
Human Resources
- Recruit, screen, interview and hire staff
- Manage employee benefit plans (health, vision, dental, meal program, and PTO). Ensure all benefits programs are up to date and make annual recommendations
- Maintain personnel records, on-board new employees
- Conduct annual employee reviews
The annual budget for Yestermorrow is currently just over $1 million, and revenue includes earned income from programs as well as philanthropic dollars. The Executive Director will work to identify opportunities to increase revenues both from programs and philanthropy, including:
- Develop and lead an active fundraising program, including major donor campaigns, special events, grant research and writing, annual appeals, and endowment growth and stewardship
- Oversee and coordinate ongoing capital campaign
- Guide efforts to reach new audiences by directing marketing and outreach strategy (with staff support). Travel to present to diverse audiences about Yestermorrow’s mission, programs, and impact.
- Initiate, develop and support strategic initiatives, partnerships, and collaborations with appropriate institutions.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
Yestermorrow is a design school where design thinking is fully integrated with making – the way artists work. The successful ED will have experience and interest in the design/build process or related creative or artistic fields.
The Executive Director must be a strategic thinker, a decisive manager, a proven team builder, and a compelling communicator He/she must have demonstrated experience as an Executive Director or equivalent leadership position, managing comparable staff and budgets, contracts, fiscal reporting, fundraising, outreach and marketing, and organizational development, as well as liaising with boards. The position requires someone with a talent for articulating new opportunities, and a track record of implementing them.
Yestermorrow is part of the vibrant fabric of the Mad River Valley community, and as such there is a strong preference for the Executive Director to live in the Mad River Valley or the general area.
For Immediate Consideration:
The Board of Yestermorrow Design/Build School has partnered with Cindy Joyce of Pillar Search & HR Consulting on this search. For immediate consideration, please email your resume and cover letter directly to Cindy at cindy@pillarsearch.com.
Please Note:
Yestermorrow Design/Build School does not discriminate on the basis of an applicant’s race, color, religion, gender, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Pillar provides national executive search services for exceptional non-profits and foundations and socially responsible for-profit firms desiring top talent who want an occupassion, not just an occupation. In addition, Pillar offers human resources consulting services including leadership coaching, human resources audits, handbooks, assessing organizational design, training, team building, and employee communications. A woman-owned business, Pillar is based in Boston, MA, and works on both the local and national level. For more information, please visit www.pillarsearch.com or email Pillar’s CEO, Cindy Joyce, at cindy@pillarsearch.com.
