"Special Assistant to the President"

Job Summary

The Special Assistant to the President provides high-level executive, strategic support to the President of Barnard College in order to ensure the President's vision and energy translate into consistent action, strong relationships, and organizational credibility. This role goes beyond traditional administrative support; instead, it requires a detail-oriented, proactive partner who thrives on follow-through, stakeholder management, and bringing commitments to completion.

Designed for a motivated, ambitious individual, the Special Assistant position offers unparalleled exposure to executive leadership, institutional decision-making, and strategic initiatives. The Special Assistant ensures that the President's time, communications, and priorities are managed effectively while also contributing to special projects, events, and high-level engagements.

This role is an exceptional career-building opportunity for an early- to mid-career professional who is organized, proactive, eager, assertive, and excited by the chance to work directly with the President in a dynamic, mission-driven environment. The role requires confidentiality, absolute trust, superior problem-solving skills, sound judgment, and flexibility and discretion in managing sensitive information and priorities.

Job Description

Follow-Through, Accountability, and Relationship Management

• Capture and track all commitments, decisions, and action items from the President's meetings and communications; translate raw input into organized records and action plans and monitor progress on key initiatives.
• Draft follow-up emails, thank-you notes, reports, and other correspondence to ensure timely and professional relationship care with key stakeholders, including members of the Barnard Board of Trustees.
• Work with the Office of Strategic Communications and Office of Advancement to support communications and track correspondence with faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumnae, donors, and external stakeholders, including by recording and organizing contacts in Salesforce database.
• Greet the President's guests and sit in on meetings as requested.
• Continuously analyze data about correspondence and contacts to ensure the President remains attentive to key stakeholders.
• Schedule and monitor follow-up action items, proactively reminding the President and closing loops with stakeholders.
• Serve as an accountability partner, empowered to be direct and ensure the President's commitments are met.

Calendar and Time Management

• Oversee the complex scheduling of the President's time, managing the calendar with institutional priorities and stakeholder engagement in mind.
• Use excellent judgment to prioritize and research requests for the President to attend meetings, appointments, speaking engagements, and events, both internal and external, and build in time for follow-up and relationship-building activities.
• Review briefing materials and information before meetings and events to ensure they meet the President's needs, request additional materials as needed, and otherwise ensure the President is fully prepared for all meetings and events.
• Anticipate upcoming milestones and ensure the President is fully prepared.
• Coordinate domestic and international travel and transportation arrangements.

Information Capture and Organization

• Create and maintain a reliable system for the President to offload ideas, contacts, and meeting notes.
• Translate raw input into organized records, action items, and follow-up tasks.
• Maintain a repository of meetings, outcomes, and relationship notes for continuity and institutional memory.

Event and Project Support

• Develop and maintain annual and long-range calendars of major events. Prepare annual calendar for the President, including meetings and events hosted by the President on campus and at the President's residence, as well as meetings and events hosted by other administrative and faculty offices.
• Assist with planning and executing special events, receptions, and meetings hosted by the President's Office.
• Partner with staff to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the President's Office.
• Coordinate high-level meetings, special projects, and College-wide annual events, including Convocation and Commencement.

Other Duties

• Anticipate and respond to the President's immediate needs with initiative and judgment.
• Support the maintenance of accounts including monthly office credit card reconciliations, preparation and confirmation of purchase orders, authorization of all payments, reimbursement to the office staff, and other financial interactions with financial teams.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills, Qualifications & Requirements

Qualification Summary

• Bachelor's degree required.
• At least one year of related experience, preferably supporting senior leadership or managing executive-level projects.
• Ability to work in-person in the President's Office during all working hours.
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends as necessary.

Required Competencies

• Tenacity and the proactive drive to see tasks through to full completion.
• Demonstrated ability to sort through tasks, establish priorities, and balance multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate needs and proactively solve problems.
• Skill at building, maintaining, and improving systems for tracking, categorizing, and managing information.
• The ability to create and support structures without needing others to be structured.
• The ability to gain satisfaction from supporting leaders and making others successful.
• Confident communication skills, including the ability to respectfully hold the President accountable.
• Warm, professional presence, with the ability to represent the President in interactions with diverse stakeholders.
• Discretion and integrity in handling sensitive and confidential matters.

Preferred Experience and Competencies

• Experience in higher education or other nonprofit, mission-driven institutions.
• High proficiency in Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Gmail), Zoom, Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), and CRM tools (preferably Salesforce).

Salary Range

$100,000 - $112,000