Career Opportunity President / Chief Executive Officer

The Opportunity

The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) is a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring quality educational opportunities for all military-connected children affected by mobility, family separation, and transition. For over 25 years, MCEC has worked tirelessly to address the challenges of frequent moves, family separations, and disrupted social connections that military children face. Our mission is to support all military-connected children by educating, advocating, and collaborating to resolve education challenges associated with the military lifestyle.

MCEC seeks a President/Chief Executive Officer to accomplish the mission and fulfill the vision of MCEC, in partnership with the Board. The President/CEO provides the leadership necessary to deliver measurable, cost-effective results and enthusiastically inspire the MCEC team of staff and volunteers.

The President/CEO must have the experience, skill, collaborative style, sensitivity, and personal confidence to tap into the power each member of the MCEC team brings to the organization. It is also vitally important to keep the military-connected child preeminent in all decisions, practices, and messages. To accomplish the mission, the President/CEO must have lived experience with the military lifestyle and be passionate about the MCEC mission, with the ability to articulate a clear vision and evidence-informed and collaborative way to achieve it. Business and development acumen in the nonprofit sector, comfort interacting with high level government and education officials, and unwavering integrity are necessary skills and attributes for this position.

About the Organization

At MCEC, we believe that every military child has the right to quality educational opportunities and the support needed to succeed in school and life. Through our innovative programs like Student 2 Student®, 360 Summits, and Tell Me A Story®, we strive to create a strong foundation for the academic and social-emotional success of military-connected children. Our work extends beyond direct support to children and families; we also provide professional development for educators, develop resources for parents, and advocate for policies that benefit military families.

MCEC’s impact is far-reaching, touching the lives of countless military-connected children around the world. Our annual Global Training Summit brings together educators, military families, and partners to share best practices and enhance support for military children. Through our SchoolQuest^TM tool, we help families navigate school transitions during relocations, while our Military Student Consultants offer personalized guidance to families facing educational challenges. By joining MCEC, you’ll be part of a passionate team working to make a tangible difference in the lives of military children, ensuring they have the tools and support to thrive despite the unique challenges of the military lifestyle.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

Mission, Policy and Development Planning

• Helps the Board determine MCEC values, mission, vision, and short- and long-term goals. Coordinates with the Chief Operating Officer to make the vision actionable, to understand and implement the mission.
• Facilitates the Board’s monitoring and evaluation of the organization’s relevance to the community, its effectiveness, and its results.
• Keeps informed of developments in nonprofit management and governance, philanthropy and fund development.
• Invests in the future – for the benefit of the children we serve.

Reputation, Relevance and Standards

• Reputation: Assures the organization and its mission, programs, products, and services are consistent and present a strong, positive image to relevant stakeholders.
• Relevance: Assures that MCEC programs, speakers, and materials deliver information that is up-to-date, accurate, research-informed, and relevant to the current needs of military-connected students.   Regularly engages with subject matter experts (e.g., MCEC Science Advisory Board or military leadership) to stay informed on current research and emerging areas of need.  
• Standards: Maintains the high standards of the organization by using ethical discernment when deciding whether to engage in partnerships or collaborations. Maintains the focus on the children, always.

Management and Administration

• Provides general oversight of all MCEC activities, manages the executive senior leadership team, and assures a smoothly functioning, efficient organization.
• Assures program quality and organizational stability through development and implementation of standards and controls, systems and procedures, and regular evaluation.
• Assures a work environment that recruits, retains, and supports quality staff and volunteers. Assures appropriate processes for selecting, developing, motivating, and evaluating staff and volunteers.

Governance

• Works with the Board Chair to enable the Board to fulfill its governance functions and facilitate the optimum performance of the Board, its committees and individual Board members.
• With the Board Chair, focuses Board attention on long-range strategic issues.
• Manages the Board’s due diligence process to assure timely attention to core issues.
• Works with the Board officers and committee chairs to effectively engage each Board member.
• Assists in the recruitment of Board member candidates.
• Serves as ex-officio member of the Board.

Financing and Financial Viability

• Oversees the fiscal activities of the organization including budgeting, reporting and audit. Works closely with the Board Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer (COO) on formulating financial policies. Ensures proper execution of established policies.
• Works with the Board to ensure financing to support short- and long-term goals.
• Assures an effective fund development program by supervising the Vice President for Advancement for this activity.

Community Relations

• Acts as a spokesperson, within the public and private sectors, for issues relevant to MCEC, its services and constituencies. Stays abreast of relevant research and policy. Continually hones craft and be the spark for “fusion conversations.” Know the balance between advocacy and education.
• Serves as chief spokesperson for MCEC, assuring proper representation of MCEC to the community.
• Initiates, develops, and maintains cooperative relationships with key constituencies. Identifies areas for future strategic partners.
• Works with senior military, corporate, state and federal leaders, and partners in the nonprofit sector to promote legislative and regulatory policies that address the issues of MCEC’s constituencies.
• Adapts to changing education policy and trends.
• Identifies organizations with whom MCEC should partner. Possesses the vision to identify gaps in relationships.

Critical Competencies

Leadership: The President/CEO is a positive, people-oriented leader. This person shares a passion for the MCEC values, mission and vision. This person consistently displays integrity, models positive behavior, develops people, and builds teams. The President/CEO must deal effectively with demanding situations, keeping in mind the interests of multiple stakeholders.

Philanthropy: The President/CEO is a philanthropic-growth minded individual who is skilled at personally developing, cultivating, soliciting, and leveraging relationships. The President/CEO is experienced in leading strategic efforts to increase revenue from state and federal entities, foundations, corporations, community organizations, and individual supporters.

Commitment to results: The President/CEO is a systems thinker who is customer-focused, and goal- driven. This individual identifies relevant information to transform it into individual and organizational knowledge and learning. The chief executive serves as an action-oriented and innovative catalyst as the senior strategist for the organization.  Translates broad goals into achievable milestones, anticipating and solving problems and taking advantage of opportunities as a self-starter and team player.

Business acumen: The President/CEO position requires an individual with knowledge of and experience in management and administration, in both the government and nonprofit sectors. The position also requires demonstrated experience in integrating and coordinating diverse areas of management and modeling stewardship for the organization. The President/CEO must know when and how to leverage trusted colleagues in times of scarce resources.

Motivating: The President/CEO manages continuity, change and transition. This person values teammates and invests in their development.

Education and Experience

It is desired that the ideal candidate has earned a doctorate degree in education, behavioral sciences, or another discipline.  This person also possesses a minimum of 5-10 years of experience in senior management positions.

Compensation

Salary range will be shared with candidates contacted for interviews or upon request by the candidate. Total compensation includes 401K matching contributions.

Residency Requirement

Although the organization headquarters is in Central Texas, residency in Texas and proximity to the MCEC headquarters is not required. Easy access to the Washington, DC area is preferred.

Interested candidates, please send a cover letter and resume to Shellie Campos at shellie.campos@militarychild.org