Senior Director, Office of the CEO

Opportunity International - Chicago, IL

Full-time - Senior

Chicago, IL

Real Estate

About the position

The Senior Director, Office of the CEO serves as the primary liaison between the CEO and the board of directors, ensuring the efficient operation of the CEO's office. This role involves managing the Office of the CEO team, facilitating board operations, and enhancing the experience of board members at Opportunity International. The ideal candidate will be a strong planner and executor, capable of building relationships across all organizational levels and cultures, while acting as a trusted advisor to the CEO.

Responsibilities

• Act as the point of contact for the CEO's direct reports, understanding organizational issues and providing counsel.
• Organize all Direct Reports, Managers, and All-Staff meetings, setting agendas, meeting format, and schedules, keeping minutes, and ensuring follow-up.
• Manage the Executive Assistant of the Office of the CEO, including performance evaluations and feedback.
• Oversee and manage the Consultant to the Office of the CEO and their assignments.
• Guide projects within the Office of the CEO with a hands-on approach, including drafts for the CEO's correspondence and other tasks that facilitate the CEO's ability to lead the organization.
• Track assigned tasks to the CEO's Direct Reports and follow up as needed.
• Effectively prioritize conflicting needs and handle tasks quickly and proactively, ensuring projects are completed successfully, even under tight deadlines.
• Inform the CEO of upcoming commitments and responsibilities and follow up as needed.
• Maintain effective communication between the CEO's office and internal teams while maintaining credibility, trust, and support with senior management.
• Monitor and understand the organizational and Chicago office's cultural environment, informing the CEO of relevant developments.
• Facilitate cross-functional relationships by advising department leaders on teamwork improvements, including enhancing inter-department collaboration to boost performance management, alignment, and engagement.
• Serve as a thought partner and strategic advisor to the CEO, standing in on meetings, challenging ideas and offering a different perspective, and following up on action items with the team accordingly.
• Oversee the budget for the Executive department.
• Serve as the CEO's administrative liaison to OIUS Board of Directors.
• Oversee and maintain governance records for the organization.
• Provide administrative support to the OIUS board chair and committee chairs as needed, including meeting preparation, board materials coordination, and meeting minutes recording.
• Manage the preparation of board meeting materials and logistics with input from senior management and support from the CEO's Office team.
• Oversee onboarding of new OIUS board members.
• Manage successful Board Insight Trips to visit Opportunity's international programs.
• Maintain discretion and confidentiality in relationships with all board members.
• Handle all Board-related inquiries from staff on behalf of the CEO Office team.
• Communicate on behalf of the CEO with external stakeholders as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or master's degree a plus in Communications, International Development, International Economics, International Relations, or related field.
• Minimum of 10 years supporting C-Level Executives; Chief of Staff experience is a plus, preferably 5 years or more.
• Experience working in the corporate office of a multinational corporation/NGO/public entity is a plus.
• Comfortable working in a global environment, managing relationships across cultures, geographies, time zones, and languages.
• Collaborative leadership style in managing projects and work assignments.
• Demonstrated success in building and preserving trust, agreement, confidence, and respect among various constituencies.
• Ability to work with various stakeholders across functional disciplines and cultures to understand their respective challenges and motivations.
• Demonstrated ability to work under time and people pressures with composure.
• Strong analytical mindset using data to support thinking and decision-making.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
• Expert skill level in Microsoft Office Suite, Zoom, SharePoint, and MS Teams.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with CRMs, preferably Raisers Edge and PowerBI is a plus.
• Fluency in additional languages such as Spanish or French is a plus.

Benefits

• Opportunity to work in a global non-profit organization.
• Engagement in meaningful work that empowers people to work their way out of poverty.