Chief Executive Officer

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Vision & Organizational Leadership

• In alignment with World Savvy’s vision for reimagining education and the Global Competence Matrix, build upon the strong foundation and organizational reputation to help the organization reach its’ “We Must Imagine” goals for 2035. 
• Embody the mission and values with a passionate, genuine, and compassionate voice that calls in school partners, funders, and community stakeholders in support of the work.
• Provide leadership in the investment of organization resources and transparency about financial and operating results.
• Steward the finances with prudence, accountability, and integrity. Ensure that World Savvy remains in good financial health while sustaining and growing its impact in a responsible manner.
• An experienced partner to the board in both immediate term actions and in helping to develop an ever stronger board to achieve the mission.

Staff & Board Management

• Lead, inspire, and support the staff in a culture of impact-driven change and transition.
• Continue to lead and build a culture in alignment with World Savvy’s values, while providing mentorship and professional development opportunities to staff.
• Continue building an organizational culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion, where each member of staff is supported to thrive, build skills, have fun, and be successful.
• Maintain effective dialog between board and staff for updates and critical information sharing. Partner with Board members to identify common issues and develop strategic priorities for the Board. Support Board governance (i.e. committee structures, term limits, and recruitment).
• Mentor senior staff to enhance their working relationships with the Board and committee chairs.
• Embrace the strengths, commitment, and passion of the high-performing team at World Savvy and continue to recruit, retain, and develop a high-performing staff and Board.

People Builder and Coalition Manager

• Serve as a vocal thought leader in K-12 public education with the credibility, experience, and influence to shift the discourse around quality education and engage individual and organizational changemakers.
• Engender trust and respect by engaging with transparency, authenticity, and compassion. 
• Build trusting relationships with key stakeholders, such as funders, superintendents, principals, teachers, local officials, and community members, to support growth objectives and foster collaboration.
• Lead with a nuanced understanding of how systems disproportionately impact and influence student outcomes, while continuing to lead and guide the organization in a direction of political neutrality. 
• Foster frequent, consistent dialogue with relevant constituents to develop strong cross-sector collaborations.

Business Development & Fundraising

• Be accountable for the fiscal health of the organization, including the identification and cultivation of new funding opportunities to enable growth and impact targets to be met.
• Experienced fundraiser who has had success securing funding from diverse sources (foundation, corporate, and individual giving), and able to provide strategic guidance on fundraising priorities to support sustainability and fund new initiatives. 
• Bring a keen business sense that allows World Savvy to continue building and strategically expanding its impact through new and existing revenue-generating relationships. 

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an optimistic leader with vision and strong execution skills who motivates others and believes that students learn best when they are engaged in relevant and important issues that impact their communities and the world. This leader will be an accomplished nonprofit executive leader with a deep understanding of K-12 combined with cross-sector collaboration and impact. A leader who has led organizations of similar size or larger and has led through expansion and scale.  A demonstrated history of leading and executing a vision that motivates others to action. The chosen candidate must excel in building trusting, collaborative relationships with leaders in public education, philanthropy, and across sectors. This leader will also bring a personal connection to the power that global competence has played in their own experience as a student, professional, and leader, and believes in what’s possible for kids and communities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, related master’s degree preferred.
• Preference for someone with direct experience in traditional K-12 public education systems and/or adjacent executive experience at an organization serving K-12 public schools.
• Demonstrated ability to drive action with data and translate research findings to a variety of audiences to create impact.
• A natural convener to lift not only World Savvy but a coalition of leaders and organizations driving to reimagine education.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusting relationships and collaborative partnerships with stakeholders who, at times, hold divergent views and differing interests but share mutual objectives.
• Record of developing, nurturing, and retaining strong teams.
• Experience leading data-driven change in education or adjacent work.
• Demonstrated ability to identify new organizational funding sources, including business development and fundraising with foundations, businesses, and individual donors.
• Demonstrated ability to grow and shift the financial make-up of an organization to increase and sustain focus on earned revenue.
• Proven ability to connect and co-create with a diverse range of perspectives representing lived experience in urban and rural communities.
• A learner’s mindset that is open to feedback.