Deputy Executive/Num. 2 Executive, Education and Training, Project Management/Program Development
Preferred Education:
4 Year Degree
ASCD seeks a well-rounded change leader ready to manage the transformation of one of the largest and most historically relevant organizations in education. For more than 75 years, ASCD has supported, connected and empowered educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading. Now, the organization is seeking to refresh its relationship with the field, respond to the changing needs of the educators it serves, streamline, and integrate its solutions, and complete a digital transformation.
The Chief Impact Officer will sit at the center of this effort, assisting with cross-functional implementation while directly overseeing the two central elements of the strategy: Content and Community. ASCD will build upon its 75-year history as the publisher of high-quality content to transform from primarily print media to a digital-first strategy that incorporates a wide range of multimedia educational orderings. Concurrently, the association will dramatically expand its role in the field to become a forum for educators to access the content they need along with the support and mentorship of other educators. The Chief Impact Officer will be the lead architect of this transformation with responsibility for bringing together the Content and Community product lines to form a seamless member experience. The new leader will join a leadership team whose legacy will include nothing short of navigating the organization through one of the most challenging and unprecedented periods in history while putting it on a solid path for another 75 years of relevance and impact.
About Us
Founded as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, ASCD supports educators from the first day of a teacher preparation program to the last day on the job, regardless of their years of service, positions, or titles.
Through its publications, including Educational Leadership magazine, and more than 750 books, ASCD has provided high-quality research-based content, thought leadership, and actionable resources that help educators lead at every stage of their career. Through membership, conferences, and communication, ASCD has connected educators to each other to learn, network, and find continued inspiration.
Today, ASCD has 113,573 members/subscribers - teachers, principals, superintendents, and advocates - from more than 129 countries and continues to uphold its longstanding commitment to helping educators enhance their craft and grow in their roles by providing high-quality, research-based resources and support they can trust.
Operating from this position of strength, ASCD is embarking on a significant new strategic journey. The need in the organization was founded on is as relevant as ever, but the way educators consume content and participate in community has changed. Thus, ASCD is changing how it operates to respond to and realign with the needs of the educator of today, and the world of tomorrow.
About You
You are a well-rounded change leader and effective manager with the proven ability to lead teams and deliver results in complex environments. You have deep experience designing and bringing products and services to fruition.
Ideally, you have successfully modernized content development processes to meet the needs of modern users and led digital transformation efforts. Or you have built and engaged massive virtual communities in ways that have helped participants grow professionally, build relationships, and share ideas. Perhaps you have conceptualized new ways of connecting adult learners with one another or devised a service that keeps its subscribers coming back over the long-term.
At a minimum, you have the unique balance of skills required to lead successful and sustainable change. This means you have the demonstrated ability to:
Develop, communicate, and align your team around a clear and detailed vision;
Create and implement effective processes that move the organization forward;
Establish and maintain positive relationships that benefit the change effort;
Solve unexpected problems and overcome obstacles; and
Model the needed mindsets, including a commitment to education equity.
You are savvy with data and analytics, and able to utilize existing technologies to target engagement and meet the needs of members and customers. You make those around you feel valued and appreciated, are authentic and sincere, and hopefully, you bring joy, perspective, and humor to the work you do.
What you will do
You will lead the two central pillars of the go-forward strategy: Content and Community. In doing so, you will:
Lead your team through the development of clear and compelling product maps that establish the groundwork for the digital transformation of Content and the creation of Community, and then lead the organization in effectively developing, testing, refining, and continuously improving those products and services.
Bring together separate Content channels (Books, Educational Leadership (EL) magazine, newsletters, toolkits, professional learning resources, and more) into one integrated team and content cycle that starts with social media and online content and extends through EL to multimedia, longform, and books.
Bring together separate Community-related efforts (membership, digital services, events, and more) into one coherent Community experience organized around affinity groups and supported through primarily virtual engagement.
You will align Content and Community strategies so that they are connected, coordinated, and strengthen each other.
You will ensure that Content and Community solutions together generate sufficient revenue to grow and sustain the organization’s impact far into the future.
You will develop and own the impact metrics and progress monitoring cycle that make improvement transparent, enable effective strategic decision-making, and ensure that this strategy is putting the organization on the path to long term impact and sustainability.
You will play a critical role in the strategic initiatives that will enable the Content and Community vision including a) Digital Transformation, b) Organizational change, and c) a shift towards allowing the customer to define value, including modernizing the data environment with analytics.
In fulfilling these responsibilities, you will help shift to a digital-first approach to supporting educators through high-quality, useful content and supportive, engaging community while continuing to strengthen the ASCD’s highest value (e.g. Educational Leadership magazine) and strongest revenue-producing (books and membership) offerings.
Responsibilities
Steer vision for Content and Community, add detail and translate into an actionable implementation strategy
Lead implementation of Content and Community strategy from start to finish including development and implementation of all products and services
Develop solutions that meet the needs of users and generate sufficient revenue such that the organization is growing revenue year-over-year
Manage the Managing Director of Content and Managing Director of Community as well as Content and Community teams
Integrate discrete content and community-related functions into two teams and one unit
Grow Community year-over-year expanding membership, engagement, and value to participants
Streamline Content cycle under Educational Leadership umbrella while increasing value
Leverage data and user research to guide decision making
Establish data and analytics strategy to drive customer engagement and maximize the value of products and services for members
Develop and implement a progress monitoring cycle that assesses impact, supports decision making, and informs course corrections
Manage budget for Content and Community division and initiatives
Help represent the ASCD to the field and lead the organization into the future.
Education and Experience
At least 10 years of executive leadership experience required
Experience managing and restructuring large teams
Experiencing leading product development and/or refinement
Experience leading strategic initiatives from start to finish
Big ++
Experience developing high-quality content
Experience modernizing delivery channels and ways users access content
Experience growing and sustaining virtual communities
C-level experience preferable
We are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status
This position description summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.
About ASCD
ASCD is dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Comprising 114,000 members—superintendents, principals, teachers, and advocates from more than 127 countries—the ASCD community also includes 57 affiliate organizations.Our diverse, nonpartisan membership is our greatest strength, projecting a powerful, unified voice to decision makers around the world.
