Executive Director Search Process

BerryDunn is collaborating with The BTS Center and leading the search to find a dynamic, creative, and visionary Executive Director (ED) to lead an organization with a unique and complex character – a non-profit start-up born of an historic educational institution.

The BTS Center is a five-year-old non-profit organization with a lineage dating back nearly 200 years as a graduate institution preparing ministers for service in the church. Impacted by forces of change both in the church and in higher education, the seminary transformed itself into a non-profit whose mission is to catalyze spiritual imagination with enduring wisdom for transformative faith leadership. It works to leverage its hard-won wisdom in innovative responses to today’s changing church, as well as in creative responses to the needs of new generations of spiritual seekers.

We desire an ED who has the capacity to keep a foot in each world, leading today’s church through the wilderness of change while leaning into the places where less familiar expressions of faith and of spirit are emerging. The successful candidate will navigate these complexities and ambiguities with an entrepreneurial spirit that allows him/her to address the spiritual needs of the religiously unaffiliated while also helping the affiliated to think imaginatively about the ancient truths and practices of their traditions.

The Executive Director will lead The BTS Center in executing its mission of catalyzing spiritual imagination, and in striving to achieve its vision of human hearts renewed, justice established, and creation restored.

RESPONSIBILITES:

1. Program Design, Development and Management

• Develop the strategic initiatives of the organization in consultation with the Board of Trustees
• Design, develop and maintain programs and services that are responsive and relevant to the needs of The BTS Center’s constituencies
• Ensure program quality and consistency with organizational goals through ongoing evaluation of all programs to determine effectiveness and participant satisfaction
• Develop and update policies for all program processes
• Oversee development and coordination of events, conferences, workshops and publications
• Supervise the maintenance of The BTS Center’s website and its social media presence

2. Partnership Cultivation

• Serve as lead spokesperson for The BTS Center, and ensure the organization’s mission is properly presented to varied audiences and in public events
• Coordinate activities and maintain positive collaborations with existing partners
• Develop new relationships with local, regional, and national nonprofits, religious institutions, and others who share a commitment to supporting vitality in communities of faith

3. Board of Trustees Support and Collaboration

• Collaborate with the Board of Trustees so that The BTS Center operates with a clear mission, commitment to its values, and with plans that are consistent with its mission and vision.
• Keep the Board of Trustees fully informed on conditions, opportunities, issues, and challenges for The BTS Center and the environment in which it operates so that the board can carry out its governance, financial oversight and leadership roles
• Provide for the coordination of trustee meetings and communications
• Serve as staff member to all trustee committees unless otherwise directed

4. Organization Management

• Provide overall staff direction and supervision, and develop with employees a yearly work plan which includes goals, objectives, and outcomes, and timeline for the programs to be carried out by The BTS Center
• Provide ongoing management to ensure the organization stays within approved plans and budgets
• Effectively manage the human resources of The BTS Center in a manner that supports a productive, professionally competent work force in an environment respectful of personal well-being and cultural diversity

5. Financial Management

• Develop the annual budget, and submit to trustees for approval.
• Manage and monitor expenditures and income
• Maintain, in concert with the Finance Committee, the capital assets of corporation, in particular, the endowment
• Contract for and oversee annual audit
• Develop relationships with funders and maintain regular communications with funders

QUALIFICATIONS:

• BS/Master’s degree in nonprofit management, ministry, arts, humanities, or social sciences, plus 7+ years of relevant experience in nonprofit, academic, philanthropy or ministry leadership roles
• Supervisory and personnel experience
• Financial management abilities
• Knowledge of program development and implementation
• Experience working with boards of directors
• Communications skills – verbal, written, social media
• Technological literacy

ATTRIBUTES:

• Is entrepreneurial, visionary, comfortable with ambiguity and risk-taking in a fluid environment
• Is knowledgeable about the Christian tradition
• Is grounded in a progressive theology
• Is conversant in the complexities of contemporary Christianity, and is concerned with the life of faith in America today
• Has substantial nonprofit leadership experience
• Possesses strong interpersonal skills
• Has an academic or experiential understanding of how people learn
• Has solid networks in communities of faith regionally and nationally

Qualified Applicants should send a resume and cover letter indicating interest and salary expectations to solson@berrydunn.com or Fax: 207-541-2269.

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