Company: Leadership Recruiters
Job Title: Chief Knowledge Officer: Research, Evaluation, and Planning
Location: Philadelphia, PA 19103
The William Penn Foundation is a leading American philanthropy located in Philadelphia. With assets of approximately $2 billion, the Foundation is a vital part of the civic life of the Philadelphia region. It currently manages programs in: environment and
communities; children, youth and families; and arts and culture.
In 2011, the Foundation initiated a strategic planning process and hired its new President, Jeremy Nowak. The Foundation is charting a new direction and has created three new pivotal senior roles. These three leadership positions will contribute to the implementation of a robust new strategy that will be completed and become public in June 2012.
The three new roles are:
Chief Knowledge Officer,
Director of Strategic Partnerships, and
Director of Grant
Programs and Philanthropic Ventures.
This new position will function as a critical member of the senior management team. The Chief Knowledge Officer is responsible for promoting learning, planning, setting goals, and assessing the effectiveness of WPF programs and strategies. Oversees and
implements research and program evaluation. S/he works closely with the President and other senior staff to ensure that the organization successfully reaches its goals.
The Chief Knowledge Officer will help guide program strategy and assess the impact of its work to enhance its position as the Foundation stakes out a more directed role as a change agent.
Reports to: President
Manages: Two Research Assistants
Partners with: Director of Finance and Administration, Director of Grant Programs and Philanthropic Ventures, and Director of Strategic Partnerships
RESPONSIBILITIES
Organizational Knowledge:
• Promote the knowledge agenda within the Foundation
• Develop an overall framework that guides information and knowledge management
• Take lead in communicating principles underlying assessment of programs, philanthropic services and organizational development
• Collect relevant qualitative and quantitative data associated with organizational knowledge
• Identify indicators and metrics of success in programmatic and organizational initiatives
• Oversee and coordinate external technical assistance providers who conduct internal assessments
Evaluation:
• Develop, manage, and support all internal evaluation-related functions within the Foundation
• Integrate evaluation functions with internal staff overseeing programs, donor activities, external communications and outreach
• Assess needs of staff and grantees for partnership in the evaluation process, in conjunction with the Director of Grant Programs
• Define performance goals and benchmarks, expected outcomes, and interpretmeasures of change in ongoing planning and evaluation, in conjunction with the Director of Grant Programs
• Develop the processes for collection, analyses, and interpretation of data
• Build and coordinate data resources for grant centers
Planning:
• Contribute to the planning of program and organizational learning practices
• Support an informed decision-making process that promotes the use of evaluation results to shape programming, design support services, provide technical assistance, and develop training programs
• Construct internal accountabilities and build intellectual infrastructure
• Develop ideas and knowledge into indicators that can be measured
CANDIDATE PROFILE
Experience and Abilities:
• PhD plus a minimum of 15 years experience in research and evaluation activities
• Held a leadership role for at least five years related to evaluation and planning
• Familiar with key policy and research issues of interest to the Foundation
• Worked on multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience participating in or leading organizational planning initiatives
• Experience in goal setting, monitoring outcomes and evaluations of team performance
• Principal Investigator on one or more multi-year grants
• Implemented experimental or quasi-experiment research designs
• Conducted and evaluated studies using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and analyses
• Conducted cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses
• Professional membership or connection with research or evaluation networks or associations
• Primary author of three or more articles published in peer-reviewed journals and/or books on subjects of interest to the Foundation
• Given oral presentations of results from research and evaluation studies at professional conferences and/or high level public policy forums
Demonstrated Capabilities/Competencies:
• Excellent organizational skills that involve multiple tasks and deadlines
• Exceptional communication skills and the confidence to be a thoughtful, authentic listener and an assertive advocate
• Excellent data management skills, ease with technology, and ability to simplify data collection and performance tracking processes
• Project and staff management; oversight of a variety of activities, attention to detail, ability to motivate
• Ability to manage a multitude of assignments concurrently, manage budgets and deadlines, and establish priorities
• Teamwork and ability to collaborate and lead a team of professionals
• Creative problem solving abilities
• Ability to work in partnership with chief executive
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Submit cover letter, resume (four page limit) and two published articles (as primary author) to: k.armstrong@leadrecruit.com with the subject line “Chief KnowledgeOfficer”
Deadline for submission: March 12, 2012
