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Job:

Job Description:

Key Responsibilities

The Chief of Staff will focus on the following five areas:

1. Strategic Prioritization & Focus

• Partner with the President to clarify sequence and operationalize institutional priorities.

• Translate high-level vision into clear initiatives goals and success metrics.

• Ensure the Presidents time and attention are focused on the highest-leverage areas.

• Act as a rigorous filter helping the President avoid overextension and unnecessary detail.

2. Execution & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Drive progress on key strategic initiatives ensuring accountability across teams.

• Track progress against priorities and proactively address risks gaps or delays.

• Coordinate cross-functional efforts where multiple stakeholders are involved.

• Ensure decisions made by the President and leadership team are implemented effectively and consistently.

3. Organizational Communication & Stakeholder Alignment

• Ensure consistent proactive communication between the President and trustees alumnae and other key stakeholders.

• Translate priorities decisions and updates into clear timely and accessible messaging.

• Reduce ambiguity and prevent misalignment by maintaining strong communication cadence and follow-through.

• Support preparation of high-stakes communications including board materials and institutional updates.

4. Decision Support & Thought Partnership

• Prepare the President for key decisions meetings and engagements with synthesized insights and recommendations.

• Provide perspective on trade-offs risks and organizational implications.

• Serve as a trusted thought partner helping refine thinking and sharpen priorities before broader communication.

• Offer direct candid feedback to strengthen decision-making and leadership effectiveness.

5. Special Projects & Institutional Initiatives

• Lead or support high-priority time-sensitive initiatives on behalf of the President.

• Step in to manage complex or ambiguous projects requiring senior-level coordination.

• Ensure initiatives move from concept to completion with clarity and momentum.

Skills Qualifications & Requirements:

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will have the following strengths and experience in order to succeed and excel in this role.

Core Strengths

• Discernment: Strong judgment; able to prioritize effectively and make sense of complexity.

• Tenacity: Relentless follow-through; ensures initiatives are completed.

• Strategic Thinking: Connects dots across the organization and anticipates downstream impact.

• Influence without Authority: Builds trust and alignment across senior leaders and stakeholders.

• Executive Presence: Confident credible partner to the President Board of Trustees and leadership team.

• Structured and Organized: Brings clarity and systems to ambiguous environments.

• High Emotional Maturity: Maintains composure in high-pressure or emotionally charged situations; able to stabilize dynamics and guide conversations productively.

• Courage & Candor: Willing and able to challenge the President directly and constructively in service of better outcomes with a firm commitment in disagreeing better.

Requirements

• Experience: 7 years of professional experience ideally with 3 years in a leadership or second-in-command capacity.

• Education: Bachelors degree required; Masters degree preferred

Preferred Experience

• Experience in strategy operations consulting or senior-level leadership support.

• Experience working closely with leader and executives in complex organizations (higher education nonprofit or corporate).

• Strong communication synthesis and stakeholder management skills.

Success in This Role Looks Like

• The Presidents priorities are clear focused and consistently executed.

• Key initiatives move forward with momentum and minimal friction.

• Communication across the College and with the Board of Trustees is timely clear and consistent reducing confusion and increasing trust.

• The President is well-prepared well-leveraged and focused on the highest-impact aspects of the role.

• Key stakeholders experience increased clarity responsiveness and confidence in leadership.

Salary Range: $200000 - $225000 annually

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors including but not limited to departmental budgets qualifications experience education licenses specialty and training. The above hiring range represents the Colleges good faith and reasonable estimateof the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

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