VP, Thought Leadership

THE ROLE: VP Thought Leadership

American Student Assistance (ASA) is national nonprofit that is changing the way kids learn about careers and prepare for their futures through access to career-readiness information and experiences.

ASA fulfills its mission through free digital-first direct experiences philanthropy advocacy thought leadership groundbreaking research and impact investing. We believe that exploring career possibilities as early as middle school and providing access to education-to-career pathways aligned with ones passions and goals will result in greater confidence and long-term success for all students.

We are looking for a VP Thought Leadership who is passionate about K12 education and has a flare for developing integrated campaigns managing narrative change initiatives and developing high performing teams read on. You may have just found your next move. The American Student Assistance (ASA) a non-profit organization changing the way kids learn about careers and plan for the future has an immediate opening on our growing Marketing & Communications team. The Vice President will report directly to the SVP Marketing & Communications and be responsible for managing our core communication functions developing the strategy and managing the execution of large scale initiatives as well as steering our thought leadership strategy that build a national brand presence extends our authority and increases favorability and the perception of ASA as a trusted agent.

What Youll Do:

Manages core functions and develops the strategy for integrated marketing communication plans for thought leadership including research-driven data insights point of view content etc. Oversees the PR function steers the strategic communication function (thought leadership social media) supervises our national and regional event presence with an emphasis on acquiring new audiences and maintaining TL position with existing audiences spearheads cross-functional strategic marketing and integrated communication planning and execution.

• Oversees Public Relations Function: Provides strategic vision on public relations and media relations by understanding our thought leadership pillars POV on critical conversations research insights market trends. Supervises our internal public relations team and liaises on strategy with our external PR firm. Sets annual KPIs team goals and manages the annual PR budget.
• Steers Strategic Communications Function (messaging thought leadership social media): Guides our strategic communications team to develop an annual strategic messaging platform that is informed by our unique perspective derived from insights. Provide guidance into our research agenda to ensure a pipeline of content that supports our thought leadership platform. Create compelling thought leadership content that increases brand awareness; and educates engages and motivates target audiences. Analyze current channels for best content/audience fit; develop new channels to reach new audiences. Guides social media strategy for paid and organic posts and is responsible for our overall presence on social media. Collaborates cross-functionally to plan produce and amplify public/media relations social media and blog content by audience and channel; seeks to increase impressions reach and share of voice in critical conversation. Sets annual KPIs team goals and manages the annual Strategic Communications budget.
• Supervises Events Strategy Programming and Logistics: Manages event staff sponsorships/contract negotiations and annual budget. Identifies new events sponsorships and speaking opportunities for our executives that extend our messaging to new audiences. Directs the development of event programming speaker communication session/speaking proposals & proposal submissions session guides speech writing all promotional content (webpages email marketing blogs etc.) session recaps event video recaps etc. and all logistics. Sets annual KPIs team goals and manages the annual Events budget.
• Spearheads Strategic Marketing and Integrated Campaigns: Develops and guides the execution of highly innovative integrated marketing campaigns that break new ground for ASA and expand our thought leadership audience build momentum on existing and new communication channels and meet mission/strategy objectives. Set KPIs and manage all budgets:
  • Manage high profile external partnership thought leadership/narrative campaigns: identify opportunities negotiate contracts provide strategic guidance and execute on deliverables measure success.
  • Create and execute a strategy for national PSAs including developing budget and managing RFPs messaging media buys creative and reporting.
  • Develop a consistent process for creating and executing integrated marketing campaigns that leverage communication channels (PR social digital marketing email events) for proprietary and third party commissioned research. Develop communication plan templates and impact reporting dashboards. Set and manage KPIs and budgets.

About You:

• 15 years of strategic educational marketing experience. Must be well versed in public relations social media crisis communications and content marketing. Experience in the K12 education or Edtech sector a must.
• Demonstrated ability to develop large-scale thought leadership campaigns and experience making data-informed marketing decisions including reviewing and analyzing campaign performance data creating performance reports and optimizing campaigns accordingly.
• Possess a strong background in strategic planning with proven ability to execute plan with fidelity. Have a propensity for planning with a keen eye to delivering on a stakeholder experience that surpasses expectations and a propensity for action.
• Proven leadership skills with the ability to lead and grow highly effective teams.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: Superior communication skills are mandatory. Must be able to communicate both verbally and in writing with all levels of management including senior leaders. Outstanding presentation and negotiation skills: superior success influencing up down and across an organization; influencing without authority. Superior writing skills; including synthesizing multiple business priorities into coherent relevant and impactful communications/presentations. Must be able to distill large amounts of information into easily digestible pieces for consumption and have a keen ability to adapt messages for audience relevance.
• Strong business acumen strategic thinking and decision-making skills: Must possess a strong business acumen with the ability to quickly understand the companys diverse landscape of people systems and processes. Must have demonstrated business savviness business sense and business understanding with a keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a business situation (risks and opportunities) in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. Much be self-sufficient and possess the ability to select between two or more alternatives to reach the best outcome in the shortest time. Must be able to evaluate risks and opportunities and make the best decisions to achieve the companys goals. Must demonstrate a strong ability to analyze problems showing logical reasoning skills and an ability to communicate solutions. Also must display a high level of emotional intelligence.
• Strong interpersonal skills: Ability to quickly establish a good rapport with all contacts. Ability to motivate others in order to accomplish objectives and build consensus. Must be able to work with all levels of the organization as well as with content contributors and organizational partners. Must be able to fluently and confidently converse with all levels of the business. Having great facilitation skills and experience leading teams is a must.
• Excellent organizational ability: Must be detail-oriented process-driven able to prioritize own work set and meet deadlines and manage multiple projects simultaneously. Must have the ability to handle a high volume of work in a short period of time and be able to organize and assimilate information across multiple business units in a succinct manner. Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment is crucial. History of successfully developing/delivering programs that support company vision and build thought leadership brand awareness/sentiment. Outstanding track record of managing large scale projects as evidenced by working with large cross-functional groups/managing multiple vendors and completing projects on time/on budget. Must be able to create and present project briefs proposals & playbooks and develop detailed project plans for execution.

#LI-Hybrid

Required Experience:

Exec