Operations / Administration Chief Executive Officer
Job Description
About Breakthrough Collaborative
Breakthrough Collaborative is a national leader in educational equity. The Breakthrough model provides college preparation support for students from under-resourced communities – starting in the critical middle school years – and prepares the next generation of diverse leaders with training to advance in the field of education.
With over 40 years of experience and a network of over 40,000 alumni, Breakthrough operates in 24 communities across the country and serves 10,000 students and 1,200 Teaching Fellows annually. For more information about Breakthrough, including recent initiatives and impact, please visit our website.
Educational equity is central to Breakthrough’s mission, and equity is one of our organization’s core values. We are committed to intentionally creating diverse communities and work to ensure that all identities – particularly Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those that have been historically marginalized – are represented and supported. As a collective of community-based organizations, we strive to see the identities of the communities we serve reflected across all levels of the organization.
The Opportunity
Breakthrough Collaborative, founded as Summerbridge in San Francisco in 1978, is uniquely suited to address the nation’s current challenges in educational equity. We grew up as a network of independently operating affiliates, each meeting the needs of underserved students through a scalable, evidence based, and adaptable near-peer program model. In 2018-2019, all 24 affiliates united around a collaborative strategic plan and cohesive set of program standards that 1) more effectively leverage the National Office’s capacity-building and fundraising efforts and 2) respect and elevate the learning and best practices generated by affiliate leaders and innovators. This new national approach to Collaborative-wide governance, firmly grounded in Breakthrough’s shared values, is intentionally designed to strengthen the network’s overall financial health, to foster sustainable growth, and to create the culture and infrastructure necessary to ensure our staff and fellows are more reflective of the backgrounds of our students and have the tools they need to holistically support students and their families.
We are eager to find an experienced, strategic leader to serve as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Office and lead its team. The right person will be a strategic thinker who values the real-time innovation and contribution of on-the-ground leaders, and someone who believes in the power and potential of our unique and collaborative approach to national impact for students and aspiring teachers.
The role of the National Office is to serve the affiliate sites by leading efforts on program development, professional development, teacher recruitment, fundraising, and expansion. Leading the National staff, the CEO supports the continued strengthening of the Collaborative while honoring autonomy of the network’s affiliates. This individual will set high standards for the Collaborative and increase the impact of the national organization by completing the execution of the current strategic plan and development of the next one. Reporting directly to the Board of Trustees, the CEO will be a people-centered leader who inspires all stakeholders who work in support of Breakthough’s mission.
This is a full-time position that can be remote or based in our San Francisco Bay Area Office. The CEO will lead a team of 20+, including four direct reports.
Responsibilities
Strategic Vision and Leadership
- Collaboratively define and build out national strategy and related resources for the next stage of Breakthrough’s growth, to include serving more students/teachers as well as evolving the national Breakthrough business model for long-term sustainability
- Anticipate and mitigate the risks of a changing funding landscape for out-of-school services and teacher preparation
- Champion and foster a data-driven culture to elevate effective practices across the Collaborative
- Complete foundational capacity-building already underway
- Create leverage by building, adapting, and distributing National Office operational systems and universal resources for affiliates, with a goal of optimizing/amplifying the local capacity available to serve students, teachers, and families
Resource Development
- Lead fundraising efforts across the organization and communicate effectively across all stakeholders including donors, partners, affiliates, staff, and board members
- Work to diversify and deepen funding sources; develop and cultivate high-level relationships with major individual, corporate, and foundation donors that benefit both the national office and affiliates
- Partner with Development and Communications teams to advance our program goals through fundraising and/or partnerships
- Oversee financial stability by ensuring the diligent management of Breakthrough’s budget and developing budgets that align to organizational priorities
Brand Management and Partnerships
- Amplify the brand by acting as the key spokesperson, positioning Breakthrough as the premier educational program tackling the opportunity gap and new teacher training in the nation; raising the national profile of the organization
- Assure the organization and its mission, programs, and services are consistently presented in a strong, positive image to key constituents (e.g., employees, students, teachers, volunteers, donors, education leaders, and legislators)
Team Management and Development
- Align, motivate, and inspire the Collaborative; support stakeholders at all levels of the organization; nurture relationships between and among the local affiliate sites and the National staff
- Oversee operations and implement plans across the network; ensure the attraction, motivation, and retention of talent at National
- Lead the conversation and discourse that is underway to evolve the National organization to live the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion more fully and to support our affiliates to do so
- Lead and manage in a way that encourages organizational characteristics, routines, and cultures that are anti-racist
- Drive the team towards achieving individual and broader goals and hold everyone accountable to both collective and individual goals
- Elevate and amplify the Collaborative-wide talent pipeline by creating and stewarding ongoing professional development strategies for high-functioning National and affiliate staff
Qualifications
Members of our team bring relevant experience, knowledge, and skills, as well as a commitment to our shared values and norms. While no one individual will possess all of the desired qualifications, we are looking for a candidate who possesses the appropriate and necessary blend of the following:
Educational & Work Experience
- Advanced degree preferred
- Experienced education or non-profit leader with a proven ability to develop and inspire a high performing and mission-oriented team
- Demonstrated success partnering with development to fundraise for a national organization
- Deep knowledge of education and its role in changing the lives of underserved middle and high school students; preferable to have teaching experience
- Comfortable working with the Board of Trustees and able to balance their interests with the needs of staff and affiliates
- Demonstrated ability to effectively partner and communicate with wide range of stakeholders including National staff, affiliate Executive Directors, Trustees, partners, and funders
- Deep commitment to educational equity and desire to lead an organization that is seeking to live the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Experience leading, managing and working as a member of a remote and geographically dispersed team preferred
- Experience in managing an affiliate organization with a distributed leadership model a plus
- Experience in strategic growth initiatives a plus
- Experience with government funding a plus
Skills
- Leadership – natural and proven leader who inspires the board, staff, affiliates, and partners with energy, a sense of humor, and a willingness to use every possible opportunity to further Breakthrough’s mission; comfortable being an influencer to the sites while providing strong support in all phases of their operations and supporting their autonomy
- Fundraising – proven cultivator and closer with individual, corporate, foundation, and government funders; understanding of fundraising process for national organization and demonstrated success in building a sustainable development plan
- Champion and model leading with diversity, equity, and inclusion – demonstrated record of inclusively working across diverse cultures and backgrounds; unwavering believer in our students’ ability to reach the highest levels of academic achievement when given support and preparation; ability to hold all internal constituents (students, teachers, directors, and program staff) to high expectations; understands unique needs of our constituents
- Communication – poised communicator and motivator, able to write and speak persuasively and to build and empower staff; able to effectively communicate with a wide-range of stakeholders including national staff, affiliate executive directors and their local boards, national trustees, and major partners
- Administration – skilled in finance, human resources, and strategic planning; able to juggle multiple priorities, projects, and deadlines under pressure
Our Team
The National Office is located in the Bay Area, California. Our team has been largely remote for several years, and staff are located throughout the continental U.S. and team convenes in-person several times per year.
Compensation & Benefits
The salary range for this position is commensurate with experience and expertise. We offer competitive health benefits, a 401k retirement contribution, and a generous paid-time-off policy. Most importantly, we offer the opportunity to work with and learn from an amazing group of mission-driven professionals!
