Director, Strategic Initiatives

Director, Strategic Initiatives

Harold Washington College

City Colleges of Chicago

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

Reporting to the President of a college, the Director of Strategic Initiatives is responsible for implementing key initiatives and overseeing projects aimed at promoting and supporting a colleges vision, mission, and strategic plans.

Working in collaboration with the President and senior college leaders, the Director of Strategic Initiatives provides leadership, administrative direction, and oversight across various areas, including academic programs, enrollment, accreditation, strategic planning, and other operational functions. The Director oversees the successful execution of major projects, managing the full life cycle of such projects from resource acquisition to the coordination of efforts among college teams, district personnel, and external contractors or consultants, and ensuring that projects are delivered on time and in alignment with established plans. Performs related duties as required.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Directs and manages projects and initiatives assigned by the President from idea through implementation.
• Aligns colleges strategic plan with the established strategic plan for the district and collaborates with district personnel to ensure alignment between district initiatives and college projects.
• Defines project or initiative scope, goals and deliverables that support business goals in collaboration with senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Generates metrics to measure team and project impact and hold the team accountable success.
• Develops full-scale project plans and associated communications documents.
• Effectively communicates project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion.
• Identifies opportunities to improve student success and business process implementation.
• Proposes new projects, builds sponsorship, gains resource commitments, and drives project results. Leads teams to drive operational, organizational, and financial improvement projects.
• Estimates the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals.
• Drafts and submits budget proposals, RFPs or other necessary documents and recommends subsequent budget changes where necessary.
• Where required, negotiates with other department managers for the acquisition of required personnel from within the organization.
• Identifies, codifies, and disseminates internal and external best practices.
• Determines and assesses the need for additional staff and/or consultants and makes the appropriate recruitments through the Office of Human Resources, if necessary, during the project cycle.
• Sets and continually manages project expectations with team members and other stakeholders. Provides consulting, training and coaching support to employees to empower them to solve problems and implement solutions independently.
• Tracks project milestones and deliverables
• Develops and delivers project proposals, charters, progress reports, requirements documentation and presentations
• Proactively manages changes in project scope, identifies potential crises, and devises contingency plans.
• Works with stakeholders and the district office to define project success criteria and disseminates them to the stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
• Builds and grows business relationships vital to the success of the project.
• Conducts post-project reviews and creates a recommendations report to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

Reports To President

Direct Supervision Professional and Clerical Staff

QUALIFICATIONS

• A Masters degree from an accredited college or university
• Three years of work experience in strategic consulting, strategy department and/or turnaround departments
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be taken into consideration based on the applicants credentials
• Experience working in a higher education environment desirable
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with process change and optimization
• Demonstrated ability to advise and influence leaders throughout the organization on performance improvement opportunities in areas of academics, finance, and operations
• Knowledge of institutional research methodologies and complex statistical analysis
• Knowledge of survey design and administration
• Knowledge of best practices of outcomes assessment to monitor institutional effectiveness and continuous improvement
• Knowledge of institutional effectiveness processes
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to guide and motivate others toward goal achievement
• Ability to work within a culturally diverse environment
• Ability to cultivate and maintain strategic partnerships with key stakeholders
• Ability to travel in and out of District as required
• Ability and willingness to work some evenings and weekends
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

Approved by Compensation Design & Strategy Date: December 5, 2024

Salary Range: $95,000.00 to $97,000

Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as other factors such as internal equity.

Benefits information is found at Health and Benefits - City Colleges of Chicago

WE OFFER: Excellent health and welfare benefit package and long-term savings and investment programs including 403(b) & 457(b) Investment Plans and a pension plan with the State University Retirement System (SURS) Plan. Generous vacation, holiday, personal and sick days, and tuition reimbursement. For a more detailed overview of benefits, please visit the benefits page of our website.

We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.

Chicago residency is required for all full-time employees within 6 months of hire.

Thank you for your interest in CCC!

Approved by Classification & Compensation Date: 11/29/12

This job description is developed to provide a general description of the duties and responsibilities of this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive set of the duties and responsibilities, nor the necessary qualifications to perform the work.