Manager, Regional/Section Engagement in Chicago, Illinois at Institute of Food Technologists

Summary/Objective
The Manager, Regional/Section Engagement – West US + British Columbia + Mexico/Latam serves as the primary relationship manager for assigned IFT Sections, and is responsible for the overall health, engagement, and performance of those Sections. Through partnership with Section leaders and volunteers, the role helps strengthen member engagement, volunteer leadership, recruitment, retention, and organizational effectiveness while aligning local and regional efforts with IFT's global engagement priorities.

Essential Responsibilities
• Portfolio Relationship Management –Serve as the primary staff liaison for assigned Sections, building trusted relationships with volunteer leaders and ensuring consistent communication, support, and follow-through. Facilitate recurring leadership meetings, document priorities and action items, identify emerging needs, and coordinate with peer engagement staff to ensure a consistent member and volunteer experience across the network.
• Section Engagement and Member Value – Support Section leaders to strengthen member engagement, recruitment, retention, and re-engagement efforts. Help connect local programming, communications, volunteer opportunities, student initiatives, supplier engagement, academic partnerships, and industry participation to IFT's broader member value strategy. Identify opportunities to improve engagement outcomes and expand participation within the region.
• Section Leadership and Governance Support – Support the full volunteer leadership lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, development, succession planning, recognition, and leadership transitions. Provide practical tools, resources, training, and coaching that help Section leaders strengthen governance, operations, communications, and volunteer effectiveness while maintaining alignment with IFT policies and expectations.
• Regional and International Engagement – Coordinate executive and Board engagement activities across the Western U.S., British Columbia, Mexico, and Latin America by preparing briefing materials, facilitating follow-up, identifying local partnership and engagement opportunities, and escalating issues requiring Director-level decisions. Lead the planning and coordination of Section visits, partnering across IFT to ensure each visit is strategic, impactful, and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Data, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement – Track and assess portfolio activity, Section health, member participation, volunteer engagement, governance effectiveness, risks, and emerging opportunities using established scorecards and performance metrics. Analyze member and leader feedback to identify trends, recommend targeted support strategies, share best practices across regions, and contribute to forecasting, planning, and performance reviews.
• Section Leadership Conference & IFT FIRST – Support planning and execution of Section Leadership Conference, IFT FIRST Section leader experiences, and related engagement programs, including speaker/volunteer recruitment, assigned budget inputs, vendor coordination, materials, timelines, post-event documentation, and follow-up action plans.
• Cross-Team Collaboration – Manage cross-functional relationships, projects, and deliverables to ensure Section engagement activities are aligned, coordinated, and effectively integrated with teams across IFT that deliver member value.

Success Measures and AI Enablement
• Success in this role will be measured by role-specific KPIs and contribution to Membership’s primary retention goals which are set annually.
• This role is expected to use AI and automation to streamline work, simplify processes, and improve engagement workflows.

Management Responsibilities
May supervise temporary staff, interns, contractors, or volunteers connected to regional engagement programs as assigned.

Travel Required
Occasional domestic and/or international travel is expected including the ability to attend occasional evening, weekend, and overnight meetings.

Required Education and Experience
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in association management, communications, nonprofit management, education, business, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in membership, volunteer engagement, component/chapter/section support, community management, events, or stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to support distributed volunteer leaders, manage relationships and timelines, coordinate projects, communicate clearly, and use data and feedback to improve member engagement.

Preferred Experience
• Work with professional societies, scientific associations, chapters, components, Sections, volunteer communities, international or cross-border member groups, leadership forums or trainings.
• Proficiency with CRM/community platforms, data analysis, and engagement dashboards.
• CAE or association management coursework.
• Spanish fluency/proficiency and/or language or cultural competency relevant to Mexico/Latam engagement.

Other Duties
This position, and all others at IFT, may be modified at any time. To ensure operational efficiency and meet the changing needs of our customers and our business, other duties may be assigned as needed.

Physical Requirements
While performing the essential duties of this job, the employee is required to sit and stand for sustained periods of time, frequently talk, hear, use hands and fingers to feel, handle, and operate objects or controls, and occasionally stand, bend, stretch, stoop, kneel and crouch. The employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as preparing and analyzing data and figures, transcribing, and viewing a computer terminal.

Compensation & Benefits
Salary Range: $70,000 to 75,000 Per Year (commensurate with experience and qualifications)

Benefits: IFT offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to reward and energize our employees, so they can live a balanced life and maintain their well-being. We offer medical, dental, and vision plans at affordable rates. Life and Long Term Disability insurance is completely free to all employees. Most benefits begin the first of the month following employee’s start date. To learn more about IFT and our excellent benefits, please visit our careers page here: https://www.ift.org/about-ift/work-at-ift

AI may have been used during the recruiting process.
Please visit https://www.hrsource.org/HRS/About/Recruiting_AI_Use_Notice.aspx to learn how.