Director of New Initiatives

The Director of New Initiatives is a new three-year position that will lead and direct operations for four innovative new or growing conservation workforce development programs: Increasing Diversity in Environmental Careers (IDEC), Individual Placements, Minnesota Energy Climate Corps, and Veterans Corps. All four programs align to the mission of CCMI but operate outside of the traditional CCMI program structure and were launched by non-standard funding opportunities. This position will support the on-going evaluation of these programs, adjust as needed the program design to achieve intended outcomes and ensure their long-term financial stability.

This position will design a process for CCMI to evaluate additional mission-focused programs to ensure that the organization can deftly and swiftly respond to opportunities to further its mission while ensuring long-term organizational viability. They will work with other Program Directors to identify opportunities to launch and adapt programming to meet changing environmental challenges while continuing to expand CCMI’s mission impact.

The Director of New Initiatives serves on the senior leadership team and reports directly to the Executive Director, collaborates closely with other CCMI team members and resources to oversee recruitment, programming, and evaluation of new programs, and serves as the primary risk manager for new program initiatives at CCMI.

Qualifications:

This leadership position requires a visionary and detailed thinker who can oversee new initiatives to ensure mission impact, innovation, and long-term success. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with senior leadership, cross-functional teams, and external partners to drive progress towards CCMI’s mission and strategic priorities. Key will be relationship development in and between external partners, ability to assess organizational capacity, and designing long-term fiscal strategies.

• A minimum of 5 years experience managing or leading young adult programs: Prior experience in a director-level position highly desirable. Expertise or know-how in workforce development, college or career readiness, or service learning, a plus.
• Commitment to the principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion applying to all participants and stakeholders the Corps aims to serve.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent: Expertise or knowhow in Business, Management, Natural Resources, Conservation, Environmental Science, or related fields, a plus.
• Proven ability to think strategically, develop a vision, and translate it into actionable plans.
• Strong project management skills with a track record of successfully leading and delivering complex initiatives. Experience managing program budgets, administrative processes such as time and record-keeping, grant development and reporting.
• Proficiency in data analysis and the ability to use data to inform decision-making.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively convey complex ideas to various stakeholders.
• Demonstrated leadership skills, including the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams. Supervisory experience managing people: recruiting, leading, coaching, evaluating personnel from different backgrounds and different motivations for service.
• Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills with a proven ability to work effectively in a team-based environment.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities and manage ambiguity.
• Proficiency working with common Microsoft Programs including Outlook, Excel, Teams, Salesforce CRM, and other common Cloud platforms