Job Description

Center for First-Generation Student Success
Chief Executive Officer

Position: CEO
Organization: Center for First-generation Student Success
Location: Remote
Reporting Relationship: The CEO will report directly to a Governing Board.
Website: http://www.firstgen.naspa.org

THE OPPORTUNITY
The Center for First-generation Student Success seeks a growth, movement building CEO who has the capacity to vision, strengthen, and accelerate the next phase of the organization’s work. The ideal candidate will complement the Center’s leadership team and embrace change to ensure the extension of the Center’s leadership position externally while creating new relationships and establishing partnerships that are closely aligned to organizational needs and impact goals. A bias towards action and skill in communication and relationship-building skills will be beneficial as it is imperative for the Center to continue its growth in the advancement of first-generation student success.

The Center for First-generation Student Success (Center) is leading the FirstGen movement -- elevating practice, knowledge, and policy to create a nation where FirstGen students thrive. Today, more than a half of America’s undergraduate students – 5 million -- are FirstGen, the first in their families to go to college. Yet, FirstGen students are nearly 30% less likely to graduate than their continuing-generation peers.

A college degree is the gateway to the American Dream. Higher graduation rates lead to better job opportunities, which lead to better earning potential, which leads to financial stability, which leads to security for families raising the next generation of college students. The number of FirstGen students entering college is only projected to grow over the next decade. The Center exists to meet the scale of this challenge by building and improving systems to better support FirstGen students and raise their graduation rates.

If you walk around most college campuses today, chances are many of the students passing you by are one of the first in their family to forge a path to a degree. They’re from city blocks, suburban neighborhoods and rural communities. And they’re as diverse as America itself. These students are smart, resilient, and they’ve often beat the odds just to get to campus. Yet, they’re far less likely to graduate.

This is a challenge we can address.

At the same time, higher education institutions are confronting the reality that student success is the foundation for their survival. With declining enrollment and funding, and rising tuition student loan costs, institutions face increasing challenges to deliver an education and degree that justifies the value proposition for all students to succeed and thrive post-graduation. FirstGen students are a moral and practical opportunity to both expand and diversify their student bodies.

The Center for First-generation Student Success is uniting all who want to see FirstGen students flourish. FirstGen students have everything it takes to excel in school and life, if we do what it takes to support them. THE FUTURE IS FIRSTGEN.

THE ROLE
The Chief Executive Officer will report to the Board and is ultimately responsible for all aspects of leading the organization. The CEO’s responsibilities are to:

• Spearhead strategic growth of the Center to serve the community of first-generation students, the institutional partners, and the societal benefits of the first-generation movement.
• Implement the process as a stand-alone 501c3 organization coupled with a strong operational partnership with NASPA.
• Recruit new and partner with existing board members to build an effective governance structure.
• Fundraise for major initiatives and sustainability, partnering with the Chief Growth Officer on increasing funding support across individuals, corporations, and foundations.
• Compel investments at a national level for the Center’s work through external relationships.
• Leverage and expand the Center’s network and advocacy through relationships and awareness of the first-generation movement.
• Partner with the program Vice President and team to empower ongoing success and improvement.
• Serve as the Center’s leading external ambassador to partners, institutions, funders, and policy makers.
• Refine the Center’s strategic planning and approaches as necessary, and ensure the organization has the necessary resources and capabilities to execute the strategy.
• Inspire, develop, and retain a mission-focused, high-performing team by empowering staff individually and collectively within a remote environment.

EXPERIENCES AND QUALIFICATIONS
Required

• Entrepreneurial, innovative, and growth-oriented leader with a passion for the first-generation movement.
• Demonstrated fundraising success across high-net-worth individuals, corporations, and foundation giving.
• Demonstrated policy experience and national networks across thought leadership and media.
• A personal commitment to justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Experience demonstrating growth of an organization through data, funds, and/or impact.
• Track record of partnering with other organizations to jointly pursue impact.
• Understanding of nonprofit accounting and nonprofit business models.
• Knowledge and awareness of the higher education sector.
• Capacity and experience enhancing the advocacy and awareness work of a mission complementary to the Center’s ecosystem.

Personal Qualities

• Synergistic
• Storyteller
• Authenticity
• Empathy
• Passionate
• Culture and Relationship Builder

Given the mission of the organization, an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university is strongly preferred. However, we recognize that education requirements can perpetuate racial, gender, socio-economic, and background disparities due to access. We encourage all candidates with the professional experiences, values, and skills outlined in this position specification to apply.

HOW WE EMPOWER TRANSFORMATION AND DRIVE IMPACT
Established in June 2017 as an initiative of NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) and The Suder Foundation, The Center for First-generation Student Success is leading the FirstGen movement, elevating practice, knowledge, and policy to create a nation where FirstGen students thrive. Through a master services agreement, the CEO and Center will partner with NASPA on operational and infrastructure needs including but not exclusively across finance, talent, benefits, IT, etc.

Our Mission: The Center is uniting all who want to see FirstGen students flourish. Together, we’re advancing knowledge, practice and policy to create a nation where FirstGen students thrive

Practice: Through our growing FirstGen Forward Network, we currently partner with more than 350 institutions of higher education, together redesigning their systems and culture. We’re helping them move from running programs that support some FirstGen students to becoming an institution that effectively supports FirstGen students at scale across the institution. Furthermore, the Network is building a dynamic national community of proven practice and collaboration, with a comprehensive national database of innovation, research and impact across higher education.

Knowledge: Our model is built on solid, data-driven approaches that are shared as best practices so institutions, employers, governments, philanthropists and others can better serve the more than 5 million FirstGen students seeking to make their mark on the world.

Policy: We organize and advocate for policy and thought leadership that expands awareness, opportunity and resources for FirstGen students to access and succeed in higher education and beyond -- now and for generations to come. The Future is FirstGen.

Research and Data
The Center promotes research that examines supports and barriers for first-generation students and institutional approaches to first- generation programming. We are home to the Journal of First-generation Student Success, the first academic peer-reviewed journal with a specific focus on FirstGen student experiences and outcomes. We also produce our own original research, including two acclaimed landscape studies and fact sheets with national data about first-generation students.

Engagement
Our Center Online Learning offerings and virtual and in-person conferences and events offer limitless opportunities to engage. Signature events include:

First-Generation College Celebration: co-hosted with the Council for Opportunity in Education, this annual November event reaches an audience of millions and brings together college and university campuses from around the nation to celebrate and recognize their first-generation students.

First-generation Student Success Conference: each year, hundreds of scholars, leaders, philanthropic partners, and advocates who care about first-generation student success come together to learn, network, and share experiences from the field.

COMPENSATION
The target salary package is $300,000 to $350,000.

The Center has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the organization may pay for the position at the time of posting. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as the qualifications of the selected candidate, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information at the time of hire, but not based on a candidate’s protected status.

APPLICATION
To apply, please email Angie VanGorder Angie.VanGorder@KornFerry.com

*Please mention you saw this ad on DiversityInNonProfit.*

Apply Now