Executive Assistant in Chicago, Illinois at Night Ministry

Position Summary: Provide high-level administrative and operations support to the President & CEO to ensure they can efficiently accomplish key tasks and company initiatives. Screen and manage the President & CEO’s communications so that they can easily access the most important information without having to sort through low-priority items. Manage relations and communications with Board members, Foundations, and other outside stakeholders. Manage the executive’s daily calendar, including scheduling meetings, confirming appointments, writing itineraries, and arranging transportation.

Position Responsibilities:
Executive Support

• Completes a broad variety of administrative tasks for the President & CEO including managing an extremely active calendar of appointments, completing expense reports, composing and preparing correspondence that is sometimes confidential, arranging complex and detailed travel plans, itineraries, and agendas, and compiling documents for travel-related meetings.
• Plans, coordinates, and ensures the CEO's schedule is followed and respected. Provides "gatekeeper" and "gateway" role, creating favorable situations for direct access to the CEO's time and office.
• Communicates directly, and on behalf of the President and CEO, with Board members, donors, Foundation staff, and others, on matters related to CEO's programmatic initiatives.
• Researches, prioritizes, and follows up on incoming issues and concerns addressed to the President, including those of a sensitive or confidential nature. Determines appropriate course of action, referral, or response.
• Acts as a liaison between the President's office and internal departments, demonstrating leadership to maintain credibility, trust, and support with Executive & Strategic Leadership.
• Works closely and effectively with the CEO to keep them well informed of upcoming commitments and responsibilities, following up appropriately. Keeps the President informed and updated on issues taking place within the organization.
• Provides leadership to build relationships crucial to the success of the organization and manages a variety of special projects for the President, some of which may have organizational impact. Including the critical incident response team.
• Successfully completes critical aspects of deliverables with a hands-on approach, including drafting acknowledgement letters, personal correspondence, acting as an internal notary, and other tasks that facilitate the CEO's ability to effectively lead the organization.
• Prioritizes conflicting needs, handles matter expeditiously, proactively, and follows-through on projects to successful completion, often with deadline pressures.

Board Support & Liaison

• Serves as the President's administrative liaison to The Night ministry’s board of directors.
• Maintains discretion and confidentiality in relationships with all board members.
• Adheres to compliance with applicable rules and regulations set in bylaws regarding board and board committee matters, including advance distribution of materials before meetings in email and/or paper format.

Executive/Strategic Management Liaison

• Participates as an adjunct member of the Strategic Leadership Team, including assisting in scheduling meetings and attending all meetings.
• Assists in coordinating the agenda of Strategic Leadership Team meetings and off-sites, and all-staff meetings.
• Facilitates cross-divisional coordination of travel and outreach plans.

Communications, Partnerships, & Outreach

• Ensures that the President's bio is kept updated and responds to requests for materials regarding the President and the organization in general.
• Edits and completes first drafts for written communications to external stakeholders.

Strategic Initiatives

• Works with the Strategic Leadership Team in coordinating the President's outreach activities
• Follows up on contacts made by the President and supports the cultivation of ongoing relationships
• Edits all, and creates acknowledgement letters from the President to donors

Qualifications:

• Strong organizational skills that reflect ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships with stakeholders, including staff, board members, external partners and donors.
• Expert written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision-making capability.
• Emotional maturity.
• Highly resourceful team-player, with the ability to also be extremely effective independently.
• Proven ability to handle confidential information with discretion, be adaptable to various competing demands, and demonstrate the highest level of customer/client service and response
• Demonstrated ability to achieve high performance goals and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Forward looking thinker, who actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions

Education & Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree preferred.
• Strong work tenure: 5 to 10 years of experience supporting C-Level Executives, preferably in an non-profit organization.
• Experience and interest in internal and external communications, partnership development, and fundraising.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point), Adobe Acrobat, and social media web platforms.

Reporting to this position: No direct reports.

Physical Demands, Work Environment and Flexibility: The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools or controls; climb stairs; crouch, or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally drive an automobile; and lift and/or move 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work Environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to weather conditions prevalent at the time. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate but may vary at the different locations required in this job.
• Flexibility: This role includes participation in roughly four board meetings per year, held in the evening.

Our Anti-Racist Organization Statement The Night Ministry is committed to racial equity in its services, its organizational structure, and its policies and procedures. Given that the majority of those whom The Night Ministry serves and most of our staff are people of color, we must center racial equity in our day-to-day operations as well as in our strategic planning and take deliberate and thoughtful action to become an anti-racist organization. Through this work, we will identify and dismantle institutional racism that exists within our organization. We will empower staff, clients, and partners with the tools and support to disrupt white supremacy within the confines of the agency and within the spheres in which we operate. We commit to the ongoing, collective assessment of where we are as an organization and where we want to be while formulating and taking the necessary steps to get there. We call upon all members of our community, from staff, volunteers, and supporters to our clients, to engage with us on our commitment to anti-racism.