The Company

• Serve as the primary externally focused growth leader for the organization, driving business growth through expansion, extension, and new opportunities.
• Create a growth strategy, identifying prospective partners not yet approached by Housman Institute and a plan to expand existing relationships.  
• Maintain and strengthen key relationships needed for the management and delivery of programs. Communicate regularly and effectively with representatives of the schools and districts we serve and be comfortable with the sales and business development aspects of Housman Institute’s work.
• Build a growth-focused culture amongst existing and future partnership and customer development staff, focused on maximizing the existing and future impact of Housman Institute.
• Utilize strong selling skills and consultative sales behaviors to develop and understand customer needs, cultivate relationships across multiple industry sectors, and actively engage potential business partners, customers and internal parties to build and maintain strong relationships acting as their trusted liaison. 
• Serve as subject matter expert and ‘chief storyteller’ for signature Housman Institute programs to emotionally engage clients, partners, and supporters, leading strategy development, identification, and stakeholder management of all relevant partners with a focus on the growth of existing and creation of new partnerships.
• Work with C-level leadership to create strategic planning initiatives for growth and development throughout the US and globally to identify and operationalize innovative approaches to improve individual and multi-year sales, mid-cap and large-cap market penetration, and strategic capital support for partner ventures and programs.
• Leverage a collaborative, inclusive, positive approach to gain buy-in for vision and strategies, working across all teams to effectively implement initiatives and develop/promote teamwork toward a common goal.
• Conducts research on and make outreach to prospective corporations, foundations, individuals, religious institutions, and government entities to pursue for partnership in pilot programs and financial support.
• Maintain a portfolio of strategic educational partners to implement programs and foundation/corporate partners to fund initiatives and develop/implement strategies for cultivation and stewardship.
• Effectively use data from partner and program model insights, learnings and best practices to inform and manage program work, drive towards impact, and translate that impact into storytelling.
• Keeping the organization well informed of potential business opportunities nationally and globally by monitoring trends, external developments, new models, and approaches related to early education and sector investing.
• Work with the internal team to define, shape and develop specifics of partner personas to pursue and strategies to execute on those pursuits.
• Build compelling sales and marketing presentations that can be used to enable and train sales teams, as well as presented to potential clients and partners.
• Support in the creation and production of special events (i.e. conferences, pilot launches, speaking engagements, etc.) to cultivate key partnerships and clients.

Experience and Professional Qualifications

• 7+ years’ experience in a senior leadership role for-profit business development and relationship management.
• Well-established personal network of contacts throughout the education industry coupled with the ability and drive to continue growing powerful relationships and a network of key contacts.
• A track-record of public/private education administrative and/or corporate leadership roles of increasing seniority.  
• Prior experience serving a critical role in organizational and brand growth. Related experience in building out a function across various geographies preferred.
• Exceptional staff management skills with a track record of mentorship and professional development for one’s direct team.
• An enthusiastic, confident, and results-oriented professional.
• A customer centric mindset with B2B and B2C experience and the ability to anticipate company, leadership, and team needs.
• Early education industry experience a plus, or background in causes/companies related to education, families and children.
• A genuine curiosity and ability to discover the changing needs of the company and clients, responding accordingly with solutions that target those needs through an ‘out-of-the-box’ approach to push the status quo.
• Outstanding interpersonal, organizational, and analytical skills, coupled with strong written and verbal communication skills and public speaking with a demonstrated ability to engage and communicate effectively (oral and written) with people from all walks of life from both inside and outside the organization.
• Exceptional professional presentation skills - able to articulate sophisticated concepts clearly and simply and present in a polished way.
• A strong professional presence that demonstrates skill and authenticity, thereby instilling confidence and trust in corporate, foundation, governmental, and other client representatives.
• High-level of creative and strategic thinking, the ability to motivate others, and drive consensus building through deft influence of colleagues and partners.
• Undeterred by impediments and willing to bypass obstacles in your way.
• Sensibility to balance mission with the need for sustainable revenue streams and responsible commercial growth.
• Financial and technical acumen in prospecting opportunity across industry sectors, developing proposals and responding to RFPs.
• Desire to work in a fast-paced start-up environment.

Education 

• An undergraduate degree in a related field required.
• A master’s degree in related education fields or a business degree with prior experience working in K-12 environment preferred.  

To Apply

• To apply, submit your resume to HeadPartnershipCustomerDevelopment@KornFerry.com.