School Network Staff CEO
Job Description
THE POSITION
The founding CEO will launch Fuel OKC with the goal of expanding access to high quality school options for students in Oklahoma City’s urban core. The organization will focus on partnering with stakeholders and community leaders across the city to build the talent, funding, and ecosystem conditions necessary for the successful growth of new and established high quality public schools with a special focus on public charter schools.
The CEO must be a visionary and entrepreneurial leader with a demonstrated commitment to equity who is able to build strong and lasting relationships across stakeholder groups, convene and align stakeholders around a shared vision for education, and marshal resources across multiple levers of opportunity to grow the number of high quality public schools for Oklahoma City students. Key areas of responsibility will include:
Organizational Leadership
- Develop the mission, vision, values, and brand identity of Fuel OKC
- Recruit, manage, and develop a small team to support operations and programming
- Oversee Fuel OKC’s key operational functions, including finance, accounting, legal, and HR, laying strong foundations that ensure organizational health and sustainability
- Identify, recruit and manage a board of directors
Coalition Building and Strategic Coordination
- Build a broad coalition of education stakeholders to develop a collective vision, strategy, and set of programs designed to grow the number of high quality public school options in Oklahoma City’s urban core
- Identify and support existing high quality charter school leaders to scale their models and open new campuses
- Work across sectors in the education field to facilitate resourcing for the approval and launch of new charter schools; Identify potential barriers to creating high quality schools and support the design of programs to address needs (e.g. talent pipeline initiatives)
- Support the recruitment of existing and potential school leaders to incubate and launch new schools
- Identify and source key supports needed for school leaders to succeed
- Act as a central point of contact for school leaders to access citywide networks, resources and programming to grow their impact
Grant Portfolio Management
- Develop and oversee a grantmaking strategy aligned with Fuel OKC’s goals and values
- Manage a portfolio of grantees across the education sector, including prospective grantee relationship building, grant scoping and selection, grant reporting and evaluation, and collaborative learning among grant partners
External Relations and Development
- Build strong, trusted relationships with a wide variety of education stakeholders including students, families, educators, single site and network leaders, grassroots and community leaders, grasstops leaders, elected officials, and other local and national entities shaping the sector
- With assistance from a board, develop and execute fundraising campaigns to support local programming and school launches
- Build relationships with donors and other philanthropic partners to serve as sustaining anchors to further the organization’s work
- Serve as a passionate public advocate for high quality education in Oklahoma city and a thought leader on key issues in local and national education
- Develop and share the organization’s key messages and perspectives through a variety of strategic communications channels, including earned and owned media
KEY QUALIFICATIONS
- Unwavering commitment to ensuring that every Oklahoma City student has access to high quality schooling
- 10+ years of experience, including senior leadership experience in K-12 education, organizing, issue advocacy, policy, government relations, campaigns, or a related area, with a track record of executing change initiatives that have a significant and positive community impact
- Understanding of the K-12 education sector and education politics, with expertise in charter school growth and/or the Oklahoma City education system preferred
- Interest in disrupting inequitable power structures and shifting systems to focus more on the needs of families and students
- Proven track record of developing trusted interpersonal relationships across a wide range of stakeholder groups and building powerful coalitions across lines of difference
- Demonstrated dedication to equity and community-driven change, including experience working in diverse and historically underserved communities
- Strong entrepreneurial orientation, with experience developing an organization or program from scratch, including building systems and structures from the ground up and finding creative strategies to push through barriers to success
- Excellent communication skills, including clear and compelling writing, public speaking, and group facilitation
- Organizational or program leadership experience, including budget and operations oversight, team management, fundraising, and board development
- Bilingual fluency in Spanish a significant plus
- Personal or professional ties to Oklahoma a significant plus
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
The salary range for this position is $200,000 – $225,000. Fuel OKC will provide a comprehensive benefits package and meaningful advancement opportunities for all team members.
The Fuel OKC CEO Hiring Committee celebrates diversity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or any other identity or demographic marker protected by law.
