Chief Experience Officer (CXO)

CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER (CXO)

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) seeks an innovative leader who is impassioned to improve college admissions for the public good to serve as its inaugural Chief Experience Officer (CXO). Reporting to NACAC’s new Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Angel B. Pérez, and serving on the executive team, the CXO will be a creative thought leader, strategist, and savvy collaborator with deep expertise in creating and cultivating a top-class member or customer experience, and a passion for revolutionizing the college admission role in making postsecondary education accessible, inclusive, equitable, and affordable. The new CEO brings tremendous energy and encourages an organizational culture of creativity, innovation, and collaboration. Armed with a recently released Ad-Hoc Report on the Future of Leadership in College Admission, forthcoming mission and vision statements, and an organizational restructure, NACAC is moving in new and exciting directions. In that spirit, the CXO will ensure that all areas of the association impacting the member experience are unified in providing a seamless approach that embodies excellence and operationalizes the organization’s values. The opportunities for impact are endless.

The CXO will help develop and implement strategies to ensure successful outcomes for service, reach, and impact among key stakeholders. The CXO will help identify and develop new programs and member benefits that align with NACAC’s revised mission and vision statements and enhance member value through investment in new technologies that ensure seamless delivery of services and information. The incumbent will ensure consistency in messaging across various platforms that meet the evolving needs of members, and the students and families they serve. As a key conduit for cultivating NACAC membership, the CXO will partner with communications and marketing to ensure integrated communications campaigns that highlight NACAC’s values.

As an inaugural CXO, this individual will have significant flexibility to design and shape the association of the future, as well as design roles for and hire additional membership staff to build out their team.

Success in the role will be defined by ensuring NACAC is able to attract new members and retain existing members, and that members have a positive experience in every interaction with NACAC staff from their initial joining to annual renewals, registering for and attending events, accessing research and information, being provided information relevant to college admissions that is timely, cutting-edge, and moves the profession forward, and ensuring members receive support for their unique and evolving concerns.

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

The CXO will engage, with excitement, the following opportunities and challenges.

• Build connections throughout the association, the membership, and the larger college admissions and higher education industries to create a top-notch membership experience.
• Serve as a strategic thought-leader.
• Provide strategic leadership to all member-centric areas—membership, advocacy, public policy, research and content development, education and training, global engagement, and convening programs— keeping NACAC’s approach aligned with providing best-in-class member experience regardless of the direct responsibility of the functional area.
• Identify and curate new services and benefits for members.
• Identify, plan, design, and implement practical and creative strategies to drive member acquisition, retention, and relationship depth.

QUALIFICATIONS

The successful candidate will be a seasoned and effective leader as well as an inspirational manager who enjoys processes and strategy and is comfortable working across multiple areas of the association. The CXO will have experience revolutionizing and driving positive outcomes for members or customers. The ideal candidate thrives at the intersection of education and customer service and has a hospitality mindset. The incumbent may come from various industries—higher education, association management, health care, or corporate—and understands how a well-executed customer experience strategy deepens relationships and drives successful returns on investment.

Candidates coming from outside of education and association management must be curious, fast learners. The CXO will possess the following qualifications:

• Experience using innovative thinking to design new and highly creative approaches for addressing strategic initiatives and complex problems. The CXO brings skills in data analysis, technology, admissions counseling industry knowledge, and a broad understanding of political, economic, and technologic factors impacting the US and global higher education landscape.

• Experience and comfort in creating mission-driven revenue strategies and building business development plans around them.

• 10 years of similar or related experience leading and mentoring teams in a senior leadership role, preferably in a member- or customer-facing capacity.

• Success increasing the satisfaction and retention of constituents served.

• Experience with multi-generational and inclusive content approaches.

• Commitment to supporting diverse populations through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and needs assessments for a variety of communities.

• Strong team management and partner management experience.

• Talent for collaboration and effective teamwork with a demonstrated ability to work with people at all levels of an organization, both internally with staff and externally with members and partner organizations.

• Highly developed interpersonal skills and social emotional intelligence, including the ability to effectively pinpoint key motivations of internal and external constituencies, effectively consult with others, and focus on building consensus.

• High levels of professionalism, transparency, integrity, and adaptability.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, and thrive in an extremely fast-paced environment

• Attention-to-detail, highly organized, and endless self-motivation.

• Excellent written and oral communication, including storytelling skills and conveying complex concepts and data to various constituencies.

• A master’s or other advanced degree in higher education, business, hospitality, training, or a related field.

THE ASSOCIATION

NACAC is the largest association in the world supporting professionals who serve students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. The association works to expand access to higher education through policy, advocacy, convening, education, and training. It has a membership of nearly 14,000 comprised of postsecondary admissions professionals, high  school counselors, independent educational consultants, and others based throughout the United States and, increasingly, around the world. NACAC is fortunate to partner with 23 state and regionally-based affiliate organizations that share a common mission to serve and support the needs of admission and counseling professionals. In addition, the organization cultivates special interest groups (SIGs). These “micro communities” nurture the growing diversity of interests across the association.

TO APPLY

To inquire further, or apply for this role, please visit the full position profile at https://www.nacacnet.org/cxo and email your cover letter and résumé to recruiting@nacacnet.org. Applications will be received until a CXO is selected.

NACAC is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.

NACAC offers competitive compensation, an excellent benefits and retirement package, and a convenient location in the Washington, DC metro area.