Job Description
Department:
Senior Vice President
Pay Rate Type:
Salary
Employee Type:
Job Summary:
Please use this link to review the full leadership profile for the Executive Director of Colby's Summer Session.
Colby College (Waterville, Maine), one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges, seeks a dynamic and strategic Executive Director to lead its summer session to transform the current model into an industry-leading educational service designed for middle and high school students, college students, professionals, and adult learners. The ideal candidate will be highly motivated and further Colby’s strategic priorities by favorably showcasing the College, developing a suite of distinctive programs, and promoting Colby as both a destination and an institution of choice. The Executive Director will be a champion of the liberal arts, understand and embody Colby’s institutional values.
Reporting directly to the Senior Vice President, the Executive Director will serve as the primary leader of the program, overseeing all aspects of its design, development, and management. The individual will develop, market, manage, and execute programs that build Colby’s brand and align with the College’s mission and institutional priorities.
Colby College’s Summer Session has served a variety of constituencies over the years. From athletics camps and arts programs to hosting professional groups, the session has been a solid component of the College’s enterprise. While this model has worked well over the years, the program can now be more intentionally connected to the College’s academic program and its distinctive assets, particularly at this time of growth and innovation at Colby.
The following are the essential duties and responsibilities of this role:
- In partnership with the Senior Vice President, assess the effectiveness of the summer session enterprise.
- Develop and execute a comprehensive strategic plan, including educational programming, marketing strategies, and a financial plan consistent with Colby’s overall strategic initiatives.
- Collaborate with multiple constituents to understand areas of opportunity and growth for programming that leverages the strengths of Colby’s distinctive assets and campus expertise
- Lead and develop new programs across thematic areas, such as artificial intelligence, the arts, athletics and recreation, environmental studies, and others, to further Colby’s objectives by developing partnerships and leveraging the College’s state-of-the-art facilities, campus setting, and liberal arts education.
- Using contemporary analytics, develop and implement performance metrics and assessment tools for data-informed risk taking.
- Foster an environment that values diverse thinking and approaches, rewards new ideas and innovation, provides professional development and maintains an inclusive and welcoming culture.
- Plan and carefully manage the budget, ensuring that resources are deployed efficiently and effectively with fundraising goals and objectives at the forefront.
- Build strong personal and professional collaborative relationships with the entire Colby College community and represent the College at on-campus and public events.
- Supervise the summer session team, including full and part-time employees
- Perform additional duties as assigned to support the program at the highest level.
Required Qualifications:
- A bachelor’s degree is required, and an advanced degree is preferred.
- Ten-plus years of program management and managerial leadership experience demonstrating progressively increasing responsibility.
- Flexibility to travel and work evenings or weekends.
- Valid driver’s license required and must meet the College’s Fleet Safety Policy requirements.
The preferred candidate will possess many of the following:
- Successful experience in effective strategic planning as a leader.
- Knowledge of best practices in all key areas, including curriculum and program development as well as conference and event management
- Demonstrated ability to plan, manage, and successfully deliver an extraordinary educational program with a track record of success in a complex organization.
- Proven management skills and experience building partnerships and collaborating with multiple constituents.
- Exemplary interpersonal and listening skills; impeccable attention to detail and superb follow-through; strong personal integrity, flexibility, and work ethic.
- Demonstrated talent in developing and implementing strategies, plans, and budgets in a complex, fast-changing environment.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
- Unflappable in the face of multiple challenges, highly motivated, disciplined work ethic, a competitive nature, a creative approach, and a proven ability to lead.
