Director of Statewide Economic and Community Engagement (Bus Partnerships Leader)

Job Summary

The Director of Statewide Economic and Community Engagement is responsible for advancing Indiana University's economic engagement mission across IU's regional campuses, IU Indianapolis, and IU Bloomington. Reporting to the Vice President for Government and Community Relations, this role works closely with campus leaders, state and local government officials, economic development organizations, industry partners, foundations, and community stakeholders to develop and execute strategies that support regional economic growth and align with the goals of the IU 2030 strategic plan.

Department Specific Responsibilities

• Serves as a key connector between IU campuses and external partners, helping to identify, pursue, and cultivate partnerships and alliances across the private, public, philanthropic, and not-for-profit sectors.
• Provides primary oversight for IU's work related to the Lilly Endowment Inc. College and Community Collaboration grant, including coordination, implementation, reporting, stakeholder engagement, and alignment with broader university and community development priorities.
• Provides leadership, direction, and accountability for projects and initiatives related to regional economic engagement, community development, grant strategy, and statewide impact.
• Supervises 2 full-time staff members.

General Responsibilities

• Leads and oversees complex business partnerships across multiple teams or functional areas, ensuring services and outcomes align with institutional priorities, operational needs, and compliance requirements.
• Proactively identifies operational risks, partnership gaps, and process inefficiencies across work groups; lead root-cause analysis and implement solutions that improve service delivery and operational effectiveness.
• Serves as a key liaison between internal stakeholders and external partners, facilitating collaboration, managing expectations, and resolving complex operational issues that span multiple units or disciplines.
• Adapts departmental plans, priorities, and resource allocations to address evolving operational demands, institutional initiatives, and capacity constraints.
• Makes budgetary recommendations/proposals based on resource needs and ensures cost containment.
• Researches and stays up-to-date on new industry best practice standards, initiatives, potential funding sources, and partnership options; responsible for the implementation of new protocols/procedures to address business needs.
• Provides people leadership across multiple work groups, including hiring, performance management, coaching, and corrective action, while supporting employee engagement, development, and retention.
• Prepares management reports and summaries for senior administration, executive, steering and advisory committees; act as advisor to executive committees; serves on various university committees, communities of practice, and task forces related to institutional advancement initiatives and partnerships.