PROJECT RENEWAL
President & CEO
Job Description
Background:
Project Renewal is a leading nonprofit organization known for its creative and entrepreneurial approach to providing services to the homeless community in New York City. It began as the Manhattan Bowery Corporation in 1967, when it pioneered the country’s first successful detox shelter for homeless men at a time when incarceration was the only answer. Since then, Project Renewal has expanded its program services to provide homeless men and women everything they need to get off of the street, get healthy, find homes, and become employed. The organization focuses on the neediest and least-served of the city's indigent population—people who, in addition to being without a home, cope with mental illness and/or addiction to drugs, alcohol or both.
Project Renewal offers a high quality and comprehensive set of services which begins on the streets with mobile psychiatric and medical outreach, and moves through to treatment programs, employment and finally, housing. It continues to grow its programs and the number of housing units provided through the efforts of a sophisticated and dedicated staff. With a staff of 650 and an annual budget of $43 million, Project Renewal is one of the larger social service nonprofits in the City. In 2008 alone, it treated over 2000 men and women for mental illness and placed 332 of them in active employment. Project Renewal has also created innovative social purpose ventures such as Comfort Food, a culinary arts school and catering company, and IMPRINTS, a full service digital print shop.
The Position:
Ed Geffner, the current President and CEO, is retiring after successfully leading the organization for the past thirty years. For this reason, Project Renewal is seeking a dynamic and dedicated individual to be its new President & CEO. This leadership position is complex and high profile. Among other skills, a successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate vision, management expertise in delivering social services (with a preferred knowledge of policies and issues surrounding homelessness), ability to foster the growth of an organization, capacity to manage a sophisticated financial operation, and a successful track record of working with or for government and not-for-profit organizations. An integral part of the position is finding, securing and developing new housing projects for Project Renewal, as well as overseeing the complex financial transactions associated with these real estate deals.
The President & CEO must be highly intelligent and a self-starter who is fully committed to Project Renewal’s core mission of ending homelessness. He or she must be a strong leader who is passionate about serving the organization’s clients. This person must be experienced in running a complex organization as well as be able to build and maintain strong external relations between Project Renewal, governmental agencies and other stakeholders. He or she must be energetic, opportunistic, a problem solver, and able to respond to and resolve crises quickly, amicably and effectively. The President & CEO will work closely with the Board and staff to promote an open, inclusive environment that emphasizes cooperation and teamwork with a minimum of ego. In addition, he or she will be bright, diplomatic, of the highest integrity, and possess sound judgment and have good interpersonal skills as well as have a sense of humor.
Position Responsibilities:
· Keep Project Renewal at the forefront of delivering services to the homeless and extend the organization’s reach into new programs and communities.
· Supervise all programs and staff at Project Renewal; promoting a culture of transparency, inclusiveness, and openness that fosters opportunities for career growth.
· Provide a management structure that is flexible and responsive to changing conditions, and allows for a thorough and fair review of, and timely decision on, program and policy ideas.
· Promote Project Renewal’s visibility within the public policy community by having a current knowledge of social service policies on all levels of government, developing and maintaining relationships with the key figures in those government and private agencies that deal with social service policy, and managing an effective advocacy program.
· Interact with government agencies on a regular basis, particularly regarding contract negotiations and management.
· Work with the Board of Directors to develop, communicate and sustain a clear vision, mission and strategy for the organization, and set internal policy.
· Identify real estate development opportunities that expand Project Renewal’s housing footprint; oversee the legal, financial, regulatory and programmatic decisions related to those transactions; understand and maintain currency with financing vehicles.
· Diligently manage and oversee the on-going financial affairs of the agency, including, but not limited to, adherence to the Board approved annual budget and any purchase or sale of real estate assets subject to Board approval.
· Oversee and work with the development team to maintain old, and create additional support from foundation relationships, individual donors and corporate funders as well as new contracts.
· Serve as the chief spokesperson and voice for Project Renewal; build brand awareness for the organization across all constituencies.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited school; advanced degree preferred.
- Entrepreneurial in spirit and ability to find innovative ways to grow an organization.
- Senior management experience with a track record of progressive responsibility in a large community, governmental and/or policy /advocacy, non-profit, or a similarly diverse organization.
- Experience in building and mentoring a high performance management team in a complex organization with demonstrable skill in developing strong teams and collaborations.
- Experience in sound management of the finances of a non-profit organization or an organization of similar capacity and complexity.
- Knowledge of how to develop relationships with key government agencies and other stakeholders, and in pursuing and managing government contracts.
- Excellent spoken and written communication skills. Must be a passionate and inspiring spokesperson that can raise awareness of Project Renewal locally and nationally.
For more information about Project Renewal, please visit their website at www.projectrenewal.org
To Apply:
Project Renewal has retained the services of Harris Rand Lusk to conduct this search. Inquiries, nominations, and applications may be directed in confidence to:
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