Executive Director Advancement Operations - Dalhousie University (Filled)
Two hundred years of excellence in academics, leadership, transformational research, innovation and community building. Celebrating its Bicentennial year, Dalhousie University is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive Universities and a driver of intellectual, social and economic development. A member of Canada’s U15, Dalhousie is located in the heart of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a campus in Truro and is a truly national and international university, with more than half of its 18,500 student population coming from outside of the province. With 6,000 faculty and staff and many external partners, Dalhousie’s legacy lives in the spirit and ingenuity of its people, its contributions to the community and impacts made around the world.
Reporting to the Vice President Advancement, the Executive Director Advancement Operations (EDAO) is a member of Dalhousie’s Advancement Leadership team with overall responsibility for the strategic leadership, management and operational effectiveness of the technology infrastructure and core services necessary to promote and sustain the University’s fundraising, alumni and stakeholder engagement activity. The EDAO will have an opportunity to help strengthen and elevate Advancement as an integrated, cross-functional team and will play an important role in planning, implementing and executing against the University’s strategic goals and objectives. The incumbent will provide leadership oversight to the key functions within Advancement Operations, joining a high-functioning team focused on a culture of high customer service orientation, collaboration, evidence-based decision making and innovative thinking. As a leader within Advancement and the broader University community, the EDAO has a platform to make a meaningful impact on social, economic and intellectual advancement within Canada and beyond.
Advancement is preparing to launch a large-scale adoption of technology with the implementation of a new customer relationship management system that will change the way in which the University manages external relationships. The successful navigation and leadership of this change will impact Dalhousie’s approach to engagement and fundraising, having long-term effect on the University’s future.
The ideal candidate brings a big picture perspective to the role, possess an undergraduate degree in Business Administration or related experience, with at least ten years experience in a senior operations leadership role managing staff and projects, preferably in a similarly complex, post secondary institution. They will be an industry thought leader who embraces the opportunity for Dalhousie University to exert an even larger and more meaningful role in developing relationships and tools that position the University to contribute to business, research, social and intellectual capacity building. They will have experience with integrated strategic planning, implementation and operationalization as well as demonstrated systems, technology and project management skills to align projects with strategic goals and operational objectives. Experience in planning, direction and management of teams in a complex environment with a focus on evidence-based decisions, backed by quality data, reporting and analytics is an important requirement of this role. The successful candidate will have an understanding of advancement operations and leading practices, as well as an understanding of charitable giving regulations in Canada and the United States. A working knowledge of enterprise systems or customer relationship management systems or similar complex systems is required.
For further information, please contact Kim West or Amy Reid at 902-422-2099.
Dalhousie University is committed to fostering a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness. The university encourages applications from Aboriginal people, persons with a disability, racially visible persons, women, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community. For more information, please visit www.dal.ca/respect.
Royer Thompson is a Canadian talent management firm focused on capturing the full potential of people in organizations by supporting a shared sense of purpose, recruiting and cultivating leadership, and fostering an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit.