Vice President for Administration

The Barr Foundation, one of New England’s largest private foundations, seeks a talented, inspirational, and innovative Vice President for Administration. This new position on the senior leadership team will provide leadership and oversight for Barr’s operations, grants management, and talent development functions. This is an exciting opportunity for a talented leader with demonstrated managerial acumen and experience guiding organizations through growth and change.

Based in Boston, with assets of more than $2 billion and a 2020 grantmaking budget of $95 million, the Foundation focuses regionally and selectively engages nationally, working in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders to elevate the arts and creative expression, advance solutions for climate change, and expand educational opportunity. Since 2014, Barr’s staff size has doubled as the amount it awards in grants has grown by 80%.

A set of core values defined by the Barr Foundation’s founding trustees expresses the Foundation’s beliefs about what constitutes effective philanthropy and guides how the Foundation carries out its philanthropic mission. The Foundation is committed to strive for excellence, act with humility, adopt a long-term perspective, and embrace risk. Additionally, while each program is guided by distinct priorities and goals, Barr embraces a common set of approaches in all aspects of its work, namely flexibility and nimbleness, a broad range of tools, knowledge and learning, openness and transparency, and active collaboration. Information on the Barr Foundation can be found at www.barrfoundation.org.

Reporting to Jim Canales, President and Trustee, the Vice President for Administration will manage a team of six staff and provide strategic leadership on a range of issues that cut across the 38-person organization. The Vice President for Administration will bring a record of leading operations and administrative functions in the civic sector and demonstrated experience around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Outstanding interpersonal, communication, leadership, and management skills, along with a deep-seated passion for the mission, legacy, and core values of the Foundation, are essential for the role.

Isaacson, Miller, a national search firm, is assisting the Barr Foundation in this recruitment. Please direct nominations, inquiries, and application materials in confidence to the search firm as indicated at the end of this document.

CURRENT MOMENT

The past decade has witnessed significant growth and ongoing evolution for the Barr Foundation. Since 2014, the Foundation’s grantmaking contributions have nearly doubled from the low $50 million range to $95 million in 2020. Its board has expanded from two founders to seven trustees. Its staff, working in a renovated and expanded office, has doubled in size to 38, with most of that growth in the program teams. New technology and grants management systems have been introduced in recent years as well. This is a time of great excitement and change for the organization that now requires a senior leader to ensure Barr continues to be an excellent partner to grantees and an appealing and engaging place to work for its employees.

Vice President for Administration

The Vice President for Administration will report directly to President Jim Canales and will work in partnership with Vice President for Programs and Strategy Roger Nozaki, as well as in close collaboration with the information technology and human resource functions of the Barr founders’ family office, Pilot House Associates, LLC. This position will directly supervise the Director of Grants Management, the Foundation’s IT lead, and the Office Manager, and will have oversight for the operations team, which includes grants management, IT, office management, and finance/accounting.

The Vice President for Administration will oversee all aspects of operations including talent and culture; grants management; operational policies, systems, and processes; and technology and physical facilities. In assuming this set of responsibilities, this new leader will have the opportunity to strengthen the organizational infrastructure, enhance the grants management process, accelerate the development of technological systems solutions, and support the development of talent and culture. The Vice President for Administration will be responsible for anticipating what levels and kinds of systems, staffing, and best practices will be required to achieve excellence. The Vice President for Administration will be expected to establish a vision and definition of organizational effectiveness; create and implement systems to gauge and ensure achievement of that vision, including grant processes, compliance, and professional development; and provide data, analysis, and support to the President and Vice President for Programs and Strategy in shaping strategic initiatives for the Barr Foundation. This position will also manage organization-wide processes such as workplanning, performance reviews, and information/document management.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The new Vice President for Administration will be an effective leader and implementer and will be strategically focused around internal operational and administrative functions and talent development in a rapidly growing and increasingly complex and visible organization. Specific emphasis will be placed on the grants management process, IT, and continued development of talent and culture as the organization enters a new stage of its development with a more complex and mature set of operational needs. Key responsibilities include:

Develop and enhance operational systems and processes to support strong grantee relationships, learning, and impact

As the Foundation has grown to an operation that awards more than 400 grants annually totaling more than $90 million, the need for clear, consistent, and efficient internal systems has become increasingly critical. The Vice President for Administration will work across operations, grants management, and program teams to lead, develop, and enhance clear and flexible grants and contracts processes and management, along with systems and policies for data collection and analysis to support strategic decision-making. These systems must support the wide variety of grants and approaches to the Foundation’s work and the needs of grantees and partners, while also ensuring the Foundation’s core work is carried out in an efficient and effective manner. This will require a leadership-oriented systems thinker who can communicate between teams and harness the talent and resources of the organization to remove obstacles to successful workflows and enable staff to carry out the Foundation’s mission.

Support and enhance IT infrastructure

While Barr’s Enterprise Applications Manager has primary leadership and responsibility for IT at Barr, the Vice President for Administration will need familiarity with IT systems for grantmaking and related functions in order to develop and implement the systems described above. This position will work closely with the Enterprise Applications Manager and IT leadership at Pilot House to develop and deliver technical products and ensure their effective use across the organization.

Strengthen approaches to talent development

Barr has long sought to attract staff from diverse backgrounds and support them to do their best work. It provides significant resources for professional development and has maintained a people-oriented culture. The Vice President for Administration will build upon policies to attract, hire, develop, and retain high-performing employees and enhance an inclusive, open, positive, learning-oriented culture, particularly in this period of growth. This person will develop approaches to strengthen feedback and professional development and will work with the Vice President for Programs and Strategy, the Director of Learning and Evaluation, and staff teams to advance learning and action to support high-functioning teams. The Vice President for Administration will seek to establish best practices in employee onboarding and mentoring and track progress across a growing organization to ensure its continued success.

Lead continued progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion(DEI)

For nearly two years, the Foundation has engaged in in-depth work to develop intercultural understanding and competency to build an inclusive culture and strengthen the Foundation’s ability to advance its programmatic goals. Barr has engaged external consultants in a developmental process with all Barr staff, and additional enrichment lessons—including a learning journey to Alabama—will further this work this year. Two internal Action Learning Teams have been created to look at performance management and HR policies through a DEI lens. Each program team is also examining the impact of DEI on its strategies. The Vice President for Administration will be a leader in these discussions and efforts—particularly the internal, organizational aspects—and move the conversation forward through discussions and new initiatives, policies, and practices.

Ensure effective internal communication

The growth of the Foundation has brought with it a need for more intentional approaches to internal communication. This encompasses specific task-oriented communication to improve coordination and collaboration across teams as well as communication across the Foundation to enhance a culture of engagement in and ownership of strategy. The Vice President for Administration will work on initiatives to strengthen teamwork and collaboration, enhance understanding of organizational actions, and increase staff knowledge of their colleagues’ work.

Qualifications and Experience

For this pivotal new role, the ideal candidate will be a strong communicator and organized thinker with high emotional intelligence, a collegial leadership style, and a strong capacity for critical thinking. The role will require a leader able to manage diverse functional areas effectively and who has a personal style that inspires confidence and respect. Although experience working in a foundation is not required, an understanding of the philanthropic or non-profit landscape is important; resonance with the Foundation’s interests and values is essential. While no candidate may have all of them, the successful candidate will have many of the following qualifications and characteristics:

• Experience building strong organizational culture and systems for talent development and operational excellence; experience leading organizational change

• Deep understanding of DEI and experience supporting organizational learning and development of a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Track record of developing and driving organizational effectiveness across multiple functions, including design thinking and other approaches

• Strong experience with and understanding of philanthropy and philanthropic operations

• High-level understanding of and competence with common organizational technology/software platforms and deployment; ideally with Salesforce experience

• Exceptional project management, time management, and organizational skills; ability to oversee multiple projects simultaneously

• Experience building strong, positive, collaborative relationships with diverse constituencies

• Self-motivated, with strong problem-solving abilities, “can do” style, flexibility, team orientation, strong attention to detail, and a willingness to pitch in as needed and where needed

• Reflection of the Barr Foundation’s values, including commitment to strive for excellence, act with humility, adopt a long-term perspective, and embrace risk

• A collegial spirit in sharing ideas and receiving feedback

• Excellent presentation skills and strong writing skills, particularly in communicating with diverse audiences in a variety of settings

The Barr Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, with a commitment to building and fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. The Barr Foundation welcomes candidates who would both contribute to and learn from working in such an environment.