Executive Director - District Wide Strategic Initiatives

City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) , the largest community college system in Illinois, is made up of seven colleges and five satellite sites, providing more than 70,000 students each year access to a quality, affordable education.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

Reporting to the Vice Chancellor of Institutional Excellence, theExecutive Director- District Wide Strategic Initiativesmanages the implementation of Our Path Forward: One Vision, Seven Strong, CCC’s strategic framework and district-wide strategic initiatives. Working across colleges and district teams, provides technical and strategic support to ensure district-wide alignment of key strategic initiatives, goals, and values associated with our six levers: Student Experience, Equity, Excellence, Economic Responsiveness, Collaboration, and Institutional Health.

TheExecutive Director - District Wide Strategic Initiativesprovides thought partnership and capacity to facilitate the implementation of the District’s five-year vision and strategic framework, working collaboratively with the VC of Institutional Excellence, the Chief of Staff and Strategy, COSS, senior administrators, and college leaders collaboration

TheExecutive Director - District Wide Strategic Initiativesalso aids senior leadership in supporting the dissemination and uptake of new innovations and practices across the district. Key accountabilities include managing relationships, identifying areas of need, maintaining tracking systems, analyzing data, and managing all activities related to the integration of an organized and unified view of progress towards district-wide strategies goals. Coordinates the efforts of third-party contractors or consultants to deliver projects according to plan. Performs related duties as required.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Provides subject matter expertise to District leadership and college teams in the areas of strategic planning, continuous improvement, organizational development, and change management.
• Serves as a facilitator and internal consultant to District leadership and college teams to facilitate ongoing strategic planning and continuous improvement efforts.
• Supports senior leadership team in the implementation of district-level strategic initiatives.
• Leads the process of developing an Institutional Health Dashboard to enable City Colleges to develop the systems and practices to monitor and ensure accountability for institutional health.
• Supports the development and adoption of innovative practices and projects across the district in collaboration with the Provost’s Office and the Office of the Chief of Staff and Strategy.
• Partner with Decision Support to support tracking and analyses of strategic initiatives.
• Collaborate with Vice Chancellor of Institutional Excellence and district-wide stakeholders on capacity building efforts to support district-wide strategic objectives.
• Coordinates various district-wide strategic efforts with other district and college partners.
• Directs and manages projects and initiatives assigned by the VC of Institutional Excellence from ideation through implementation.
• Defines project or initiative scope, goals and deliverables that support business goals in collaboration with senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Manages project plans and associated communications documents.
• Manages and supports an Equity Data Strategist.
• Effectively communicates project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion.
• Estimates the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals.
• Sets and continually manages project expectations with team members and other stakeholders.
• Tracks project milestones and deliverables.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A Master’s Degree from an accredited college or university
• Five years of work experience in strategic consulting, change management, organizational development, or within a strategy department or role within a non-profit organization, higher education institution or public sector institution
• Experience working in a higher education environment desirable
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with process change and optimization
• Demonstrated ability to advise and influence leaders throughout the organization
• Knowledge of best practices in change management
• Knowledge of best practices to monitor institutional effectiveness and continuous improvement
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to interpret and analyze data to draw conclusions and make recommendations
• Ability to guide and motivate others toward goal achievement
• Ability to work within a culturally diverse environment
• Ability to cultivate and maintain strategic partnerships with key stakeholders
• Ability to work some evenings and weekends and travel to all CCC sites and campuses
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint)

The intent of this job description is to provide a general description of the duties and responsibilities of this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive set of the duties and responsibilities, nor all of the necessary qualifications to perform the work.

TBD