Canada: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The Chief Executive Officer of Plan Canada, which is the largest of Plan’s national organizations, has responsibility for leading an incredibly high performing, $200 million organization with two distinct business streams and business models. The grants and sponsorship programs are complementary and together support field programs which are delivered in country in partnership with Plan International.

As the executive leader of the organization and the public face of Plan Canada, the chief executive officer will be responsible for developing, in collaboration with the Board and staff, a forward looking strategy for the organization that builds on Plan Canada’s distinctive position and expands its influence, relevance, and impact around the world. ·

Attract, develop, empower, and motivate a high-performance leadership team and build the bench strength to ensure that the infrastructure and operational areas of Plan Canada are well aligned to support the organization and its mission going forward;

· Foster the ongoing development of distinctive programmatic and technical expertise setting ambitious, but realistic goals for the team geared to overall organizational objectives;

· Actively engage with thought leaders, policy makers, and other partners, leveraging and preserving Plan Canada’s reputation as the country’s leading NGO;

· Serve as Plan Canada’s chief spokesperson, promoting Plan’s work at the highest levels with public and private audiences and inspiring support;

· Oversee the development of Plan Canada’s fundraising and marketing strategies, required to effectively differentiate the organization and optimize growth, market share and visibility;

· Represent Plan Canada within Plan International as a key organizational leader, business model, and critical thought partner within the global federation;

· Ensure effective collaboration, communication and accountability between Plan Canada and Plan International’s global support and field offices to deliver impact for girls and boys through a donor grant portfolio of $500M in contractual commitments;

· Serve as the principal liaison between management and the Board of Directors, and together with the Board, create the agendas for Plan Canada’s future. The next chief executive officer of Plan Canada will be a proven executive with solid commercial understanding and drive who has had significant positive impact on the organizations he/she has led. These organizations will be highly complex and at times, ambiguous in nature. He/she will ideally have:

· A proven track record as a CEO, president or general manager with P&L responsibility for a business or business unit with significant scale and complexity; this includes strategy formulation, leadership direction and operational oversight;

· Had responsibility for effective delivery of strategic and operational targets and properly managed all obligations that the organization has to its donors and its partners internally and externally;

· Built successful coalitions and partnerships;

· Demonstrated leadership in private fundraising, institutional donor contracts and government relations;

· Successfully recruited, developed, and retained top talent;

· Been a sought after thought leader and public spokesperson who has overseen the development and management of a brand;

· Experience managing in an international, geographically dispersed and matrix organization;

· Experience delivering through other organizations and partnerships;

· Interacted effectively with some combination of senior leaders from the governmental, commercial, philanthropic, and NGO sectors;

· Credibility based upon reputation built within an industry and/or organization and will quickly be seen as someone with outstanding management capabilities who will gain respect and credibility with the sector;

· Demonstrated an ability to drive revenue and profitability objectives; and

· Demonstrated an interest and understanding of international development, child rights or social justice.

Organizational and Strategic Leadership

Plan Canada’s CEO will demonstrate a strong vision about where the field is going and the types of activities that will be in demand going forward, integrate the external view with an analytically rigorous assessment of Plan Canada and Plan International’s strengths and abilities; and provide infrastructure support to enable Plan Canada to continue to achieve increasing levels of prominence and impact.

Driving Results

In an organization that has consistently achieved year-on-year growth in revenue and capacity, and has recently undergone significant transition in its human capital, Plan Canada’s CEO will demonstrate a strong, results-oriented mentality that focuses the organization and optimally positions it to drive execution of operational objectives, and

guide colleagues in the international delivery organization while continuing to expand growth and impact.

Collaborating and Influencing

As a leading organization within an internationally federated system, Plan Canada’s CEO will be capable of developing an explicit understanding of which relationships are most important to the organization and its stakeholders, build a network prioritizing these relationships, and win the support necessary to execute Plan Canada’s vision. The CEO will be able to develop constructive partnerships and solve issues and conflicts with other parts of the Federation. By being a disciplined and focused thought leader who can build a consensus and shared perspective from a series of both individually and centrally focused organizations, Plan Canada’s CEO will be seen by others as a non-political team player and trusted leader who is relied upon to get things done, and can constructively challenge existing norms and operations, identifies closely with, and is clearly committed to, the achievement of Plan’s overall mission.

External Engagement

Given the continued downward pressure traditional funding sources face, Plan Canada’s CEO will need to substantively engage with private and public partners and funders on issues of shared interest and build relationships that will accrue value to Plan Canada going forward. He/she will need to be gifted at building and managing institutional partnerships, articulating a differentiating brand strategy, and be a compelling spokesperson for Plan Canada and its work. The CEO will be able to communicate effectively with practitioners, policy-makers, the media, and lay audiences. · A clear dedication to the cause of child rights, a strong moral compass, and a very pragmatic approach to changing the world;

· A thought leader, someone who has demonstrated success at combining creative and strategic initiatives with well-grounded practices designed to move organizational initiatives forward locally and internationally;

· A high energy individual who has the business acumen, curiosity and ability to work across a diverse set of geographies and business interests, bringing rational focus to efforts and setting in motion a series of strategic initiatives designed to meet certain profit and business objectives;

· A doer – a practical mindset that allows this individual to focus his/her energy on achieving clear and specific goals, developing talent and motivating individuals to achieve at their highest possible level;

· A well organized, disciplined planner with solid project management and negotiation skills, as well as a personality that engages the respect of executives at all levels of an organization;

· A hands-on executive who is a natural leader, advisor, consultant and strategist with the demeanor, business maturity, intellect and integrity required to establish immediate credibility and influence; and

· Clear and articulate spokesperson with sufficiently low ego to encourage others to speak publicly. Plan International is a global movement for change, mobilizing millions of people around the world to support social justice for children in developing countries. Founded in 1937, Plan is one of the world’s oldest and largest international development agencies, working in partnership with millions of people around the world to end global poverty. Not for profit, independent and inclusive of all faiths and cultures, Plan has only one agenda: to improve the lives of children.

Plan works in 70 countries around the globe, including 51 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas giving children, families and communities the tools they need to break the cycle of poverty and begin the cycle of progress by creating sustainable solutions for improving their own lives.

Plan is also the organization that launched Because I am a Girl, a global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls – and everyone around them – out of poverty.

Plan Canada is the second largest international NGO (INGO) in Canada, managing a donor grant portfolio of half a billion dollars and with organizational structure and capacity to run an entity with $300 million in revenue. To support their fundraising goals, Plan Canada owns a complex portfolio of businesses including a full service state of the art call center, a postal center equivalent to a post office that would serve a city of 25,000, an online catalogue business and a sponsorship acquisition business. The organization has grown to include more than 250,000 individual donors throughout Canada, as well as some of the country’s largest public and private donors.

For more on Plan Canada, please visit: plancanada.ca.

To apply for this role please forward your CV, covering letter, outlining your skills and experience and salary expectations to PlanCanadaCEO@spencerstuart.com.

Please reference Plan CanadaChief Executive Officerin the subject line**.**

Consistent with Plan Canada’s Child Protection Policy the successful candidate must receive clearance by a police background check, including the vulnerable sector screen.

Plan Canada is an inclusive workplace, and is committed to championing accessibility, diversity and equal opportunity. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process providing the applicant has met the Bona-fide requirements for the open position. Applicants need to make their requirements known when contacted.