President/Executive Director

Lead New Jersey President & Executive Director About Lead New Jersey For four decades, Lead New Jersey has brought together high-potential leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to […]

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Lead New Jersey

President & Executive Director

About Lead New Jersey

For four decades, Lead New Jersey has brought together high-potential leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to participate in a state-centric curriculum, covering important issues of the day that deepen their understanding of New Jersey. Through this common fellowship experience, Lead New Jersey has established an engaged professional network and created connections that extend well beyond the program itself and have contributed meaningfully to New Jersey’s civic and leadership fabric.

Today, Lead New Jersey is entering an important period of transition and opportunity. Building on a strong foundation, the organization is assessing how it can best serve New Jersey’s need for leadership and civic engagement in the years ahead. Central to this effort is recruiting new leadership to strengthening Lead New Jersey’s long-term sustainability.

The Board of Trustees has also begun to explore opportunities for strategic affiliation, partnership, or potential integration with a larger educational or mission-aligned institution that can help expand Lead New Jersey’s reach and impact while preserving the distinctive value of its programs and statewide network.

Position Overview

Lead New Jersey is recruiting for the role of President & Executive Director to provide operational and transformational leadership. Working closely with the Board of Trustees, this executive will strengthen Lead New Jersey’s existing operations while helping to shape and implement our future organizational direction. Priorities will include financial sustainability, alumni engagement, developing and managing strategic partnerships, program relevance, resource development, organizational effectiveness, and statewide visibility.

As the organization’s senior executive, primary ambassador, and external relationship leader, the President & Executive Director will cultivate strong relationships with trustees, alumni, fellows, donors, corporate and philanthropic partners, educational institutions, public and nonprofit leaders, and other stakeholders throughout New Jersey.

A significant component of the role will be partnering with the Board to evaluate and, where appropriate, implement opportunities for strategic affiliation or integration with a larger educational or mission-aligned institution.

The successful candidate will be a collaborative, entrepreneurial, and institutionally savvy leader who is mission-driven and comfortable leading through change. This individual must be capable of strengthening a lean organization while also preparing to operate effectively within a potentially larger institutional environment.

Core Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership & Management

• Provide overall leadership and management of the organization, ensuring alignment among mission, strategy, programs, operations, finances, and organizational culture.
• Lead, support, and develop staff while establishing clear goals, priorities, responsibilities, and performance expectations.

• · Ensure sound financial management, budgeting, financial reporting, internal controls, and stewardship of organizational resources. · Strengthen organizational systems, policies, procedures, technology, and administrative infrastructure and maintain compliance with applicable laws, regulations, contracts, governance requirements, and organizational policies.

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Transformation

• · Translate strategic priorities into clear implementation plans, measurable goals, timelines, and outcomes that advance Lead New Jersey’s strategic direction.

• Lead potential organizational transformation initiatives to align strategy, people, programs, processes, and culture while maintaining high-quality programming.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen Lead New Jersey’s relevance, educational impact, statewide visibility, financial sustainability, and long-term institutional value.
• Incorporate best practices to position Lead New Jersey for success under both its current organizational structure and potential future affiliated models.

Strategic Affiliation & Organizational Transition

• Cultivate and help assess potential affiliations and collaborations with mission-aligned organizations; assist Board in evaluating strategic opportunities.
• Deliver strong connections within New Jersey’s education, nonprofit, government, philanthropic, and business communities to develop new opportunities that strengthen LNJ’s statewide influence and organizational sustainability.
• Engage trustees, alumni, staff, fellows, funders, partners, and other stakeholders in an effective change-management and communication process.

Governance & Board Partnership

• Serve as senior executive, advisor and strategic partner to the Board of Trustees.
• Maintain effective communication among Lead New Jersey leadership, trustees, vendors and, where applicable, representatives of a prospective or future partner institution.
• Support the Board in fulfilling its fiduciary, strategic, and stewardship responsibilities via timely, accurate, and appropriate information to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Lead trustee engagement and resource development, Board succession, and long-term organizational stewardship, including potential future governance structures associated with an affiliation or integration.

External Relations & Strategic Partnerships

• Serve as Lead New Jersey’s primary spokesperson, ambassador, and senior external relationship leader at meetings, conferences, events, and forums throughout New Jersey.
• Develop strategic partnerships that strengthen Lead New Jersey’s programs, influence, visibility, and sustainability.
• Increase awareness of Lead New Jersey programming and position the organization as an important statewide platform for leadership development, civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration.

Fundraising & Resource Development

• Lead all aspects of organization’s fundraising and strengthen financial sustainability by developing new sources and diversifying existing funding sources.
• Maintain and extend existing relationships with donors, foundations, corporations, sponsors, alumni, and institutional partners.
• Partner with the Board to advance fundraising and resource development to pursue sponsorships, grants, philanthropic support, strategic partnerships, and earned revenue.

Alumni Engagement & Network Development

• Develop meaningful alumni engagement programs to develop LNJ ambassadors, partners, donors, mentors, and strategic resources.
• Leverage the alumni network to support program quality, organizational sustainability, community impact, and statewide leadership development.
• Develop approaches that preserve and strengthen alumni identity and engagement during any future organizational transition.

Program Leadership, Education & Impact

• Ensure the continued quality, relevance, and effectiveness of Lead New Jersey’s fellowship and leadership development programs.
• Position Lead New Jersey’s programming within a broader leadership development, civic engagement, lifelong learning, and executive education framework. Explore opportunities to connect Lead New Jersey programming with higher education, executive education, public policy, civic leadership, research, professional development, and community engagement; Identify new educational offerings including conferences, seminars and other experiential learning.

Professional Qualifications for Role of President & Executive Director, Lead New Jersey

Experience

The ideal candidate will bring at least ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in a New Jersey-based nonprofit, civic, educational, corporate, membership, entrepreneurial, leadership or executive education, or other mission-driven environments.

The successful candidate will demonstrate

• Experience leading organizations, initiatives, programs, business units, networks, or significant organizational change efforts.
• Success in resource development, partnership building, stakeholder engagement, and working effectively with governing boards.
• Strong change-management skills and the ability to build stakeholder trust.
• Ability to thrive in a lean organization and balance leadership with execution.
• Established corporate, governmental and/or civic relationships throughout New Jersey.
• The ability to influence and achieve results across organizational boundaries in which authority and resources are distributed among multiple departments or partners. Experience in leadership development, civic engagement, adult learning, community engagement, or related fields is preferred. Candidates with transferable experience developing leaders, building networks, convening diverse groups, and advancing shared learning and purpose are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Experience leading or participating in organizational affiliations, mergers, integrations, strategic partnerships, institutional transitions, or significant restructuring is also desirable.
• Experience within or alongside higher education, executive education, leadership institutes, foundations, or other complex educational institutions is particularly valuable.

Helpful but Not Required

• Strong familiarity with New Jersey’s civic, nonprofit, corporate, educational, governmental, philanthropic, or community landscape.
• Experience engaging alumni, members, volunteers, professional networks, or other stakeholder communities.
• Experience developing, managing, evaluating, or expanding leadership development, educational, civic engagement, or community-based programs.

Education

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required.
• An advanced degree is a plus but is not required.

Compensation

The anticipated salary range is $140,000 to $160,000 per annum, commensurate with experience and qualifications. Lead New Jersey will offer a benefits package appropriate to the position.

Work Location & Commitment

This role is a full-time employee position, classified as remote/hybrid in-person reporting.

Lead New Jersey’s work is relationship-driven and statewide in scope. The President & Executive Director will be expected to maintain a significant in-person, in-state presence and regularly engage with alumni, trustees, donors, partners, educational institutions, and other stakeholders. The position requires periodic evening meetings (scheduled in advance) as well as regular travel throughout the state.

In-state residence or a commitment to relocate to New Jersey following hire is required.

Potential Evolution of the Role

Lead New Jersey is actively considering opportunities that may result in an affiliation, partnership, or integration with a larger educational or mission-aligned institution. Accordingly, the title, reporting structure, responsibilities, organizational authority, and scope of this position may evolve over time.

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President & Executive Director

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