Director, Strategic Initiatives

Director, Strategic Initiatives
Harold Washington College

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. Harold Washington College is a student-centered institution that empowers all members of its community through accessible and affordable academic advancement, career development and personal enrichment. Harold Washington College, located at 30 East Lake Street in Chicago's Loop, serves thousands of students annually by supporting each one in pursuit of a certificate or degree and ensuring they are ready to succeed in further college or a career after graduation

The role of the Director of Strategic Initiatives is to plan, implement, and execute the strategic vision of CCC regarding academic, program and/or operational initiatives. Incumbent will be required to execute projects or initiatives in accordance with the needs of the college and district. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of college-wide teams, district personnel and third-party contractors or consultants in order to deliver projects or initiatives according to plan. The Director of Strategic Initiatives will also interpret the project’s objectives and oversee quality control throughout its life cycle.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Directs and manages projects and initiatives assigned by the President from idea through implementation.
   
   
2. Serves as a liaison to the Office of Strategy and Institutional Intelligence (OSII) for the College.
   
   
3. Aligns college strategic plan with the established strategic plan for the district and collaborates with OSII to ensure alignment between District initiatives and College projects.
   
   
4. Reviews all academic and operational initiatives from each respective college department for alignment with the district’s strategic plan and provides direct feedback to the College President and additional feedback to the VC of Strategy and Institutional Intelligence (or designee) at prescribed times.
   
   
5. Defines project or initiative scope, goals and deliverables that support business goals in collaboration with senior leadership and stakeholders.
   
   
6. Generates metrics to measure team and project impact and hold the team accountable for success.
   
   
7. Develops full-scale project plans and associated communications documents.
   
   
8. Effectively communicates project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion.
   
   
9. Identifies opportunities to improve student success and business process implementation.
   
   
10. Serves as a liaison with project stakeholders on an on-going basis.
    
    
11. Proposes new projects, builds sponsorship, gains resource commitments and drives project results.
    
    
12. Estimates the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals.
    
    
13. Drafts and submits budget proposals, RFP’s or other necessary documents and recommends subsequent budget changes where necessary.
    
    
14. Where required, negotiates with other department managers for the acquisition of required personnel from within the organization.
    
    
15. Identifies, codifies, and disseminates internal and external best practices.
    
    
16. Determines and assesses the need for additional staff and/or consultants and makes the appropriate recruitments through the Office of Human Resources, if necessary, during the project cycle.
    
    
17. Sets and continually manages project expectations with team members and other stakeholders.
    
    
18. Tracks project milestones and deliverables.
    
    
19. Develops and delivers project proposals, charters, progress reports, requirements documentation and presentations.
    
    
20. Proactively manages changes in project scope, identifies potential crises, and devises contingency plans.
    
    
21. Works with stakeholders and the Office of Strategy and Institutional Intelligence to define project success criteria and disseminates them to the stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
    
    
22. Builds and grows business relationships vital to the success of the project.
    
    
23. Conducts post-project reviews and creates a recommendations report in order to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements.
    
    
24. Performs related duties as assigned.
    
    
25. Adheres to CCC Customer Service Standards.
    
    

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Masters degree, with a minimum of 2 years of work experience developing solutions to business problems, implementing solutions with a focus in strategy or operations OR a Bachelors of Arts or Science and 3 years of experience in strategic consulting, strategy department, and/or turnaround environments.
   
   
2. Specific education industry experience a plus but not required.
   
   
3. Excellent written and verbal communication and influencing skills.
   
   
4. Ability to work independently as well as lead project teams of varying sizes.
   
   
5. Exceptional ability to build relationships with employees at all levels of the organization and to perform in a broad range of environments including academic and business.
   
   
6. Experience with process change and optimization.
   
   
7. Excellent analytical, organizational, planning and problem solving skills with an ability to prioritize, drive and complete multiple projects under stringent deadlines, and to respond to changing priorities.
   
   
8. A self-motivated leader with a desire to have a major impact working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while keeping pace with changing priorities.
   
   
9. Knowledge of and experience in the use of technology including the use of Microsoft Office and the web.
   
   
10. Demonstrated commitment to diversity and multiculturalism in one’s work experience.
    
    
11. Passion for education and improving student success, especially in an urban environment.
    
    
12. Excellent problem solving, ability to take disparate sets of quantitative and qualitative data and drive to innovative solutions especially in the public and social sector setting.
    
    
13. Ability to advise and influence leaders throughout the organization regarding performance improvement opportunities in the academic and business environments.
    
    
14. Capability to lead teams to drive operational, organizational, and financial improvement projects that have game changing impact and will truly last.
    
    
15. Ability to provide consulting, training and coaching support to employees to empower them to solve problems and implement solutions independently.
    
    
16. Internally driven to meet the highest quality standards possible, striving to deliver “WOW’ with every project.
    
    
17. A leader who truly enjoys working in teams and strikes a good balance between driving hard towards solutions while also maintaining a sense of fun and camaraderie.
    
    

Chicago residency is required for all full-time employees within 6 months of hire.

We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Thank you for your interest in City Colleges of Chicago.