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C H I E F E X E C U T I V E O F F I C E R 2 0 1 9
POSITION SPECIFICATION
P O S I T I O N
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
O R G A N I Z A T I O N
VOW To End Child Marriage
L O C A T I O N
New York, NY, USA
R E P O R T I N G R E L A T I O N S H I P
Reports to VOW’s Board of Directors, which is currently composed of Mabel van Oranje (Chair), Margaret Hempel, and Darren Walker.
W E B S I T E
https://vowtoendchildmarriage.org/
T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y : V O W T O E N D C H I L D M A R R I A G E
Launched in October 2018, amidst the excitement of the International Day of the Girl, VOW is an innovative start-up organization that seeks to mobilize the $100 billion -dollar wedding industry to raise awareness and funds to end child marriage. Every year, 12 million girls are married before age 18; some as young as 8 or 9. That’s a girl every three seconds. This happens all over the world – across countries, continents, religions and cultures. When a girl is married before age 18, her education often ends, the health consequences can be devastating, and she can become trapped in a cycle of poverty. VOW believes that every girl has the right to a safe and healthy future, including the right to choose if, when, and whom to marry.
The model is simple: as couples say, ‘I do’ they help girls around the world to say, ‘I don’t’ or ‘not yet’. VOW invites engaged couples, their guests and the wider public to donate directly, buy VOW products, register their weddings and join social media campaigns to make a real difference for girls across the world. At the heart of the approach is partnerships with iconic wedding brands – currently including Crate & Barrel and the Knot - and broader fashionable, socially-aware companies to market VOW-branded products, services and registries with a percentage of profits funding efforts to end child marriage.
As a meaningful way of gift-giving or thanking guests, donations to charitable causes are becoming increasingly popular, especially among millennials and other generations who are motivated to give back. VOW will play a powerful role in mobilizing couples and their guests around this incredibly important global issue. All funds are raised for VOW’s partner organization, the Girls First Fund, which supports grassroots organizations working tirelessly to prevent child marriage and advance girls’ rights. VOW fundraises separately to cover its operational budget.
The founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role with VOW presents a unique and exciting opportunity for a dynamic, passionate, and strategic leader to make a lasting impact. VOW’s CEO will inherit an exciting start-up with enormous potential. In partnership with the Board and advisors, the CEO will develop a long-term strategic plan and will drive the execution of the plan.
The CEO will also have the opportunity to build a dynamic team to take the organization to the next stage of growth. With a strong marketing and branding acumen, the CEO will cultivate a portfolio of new and existing company partners and lead campaigns to grow VOW’s reach and fundraising income for the Girls First Fund.
Photo Credit: Doug Linstedt
In addition to building the organization, the Chief Executive Officer will become VOW’s primary champion and fundraiser, developing a dynamic high-profile brand that excites an industry and motivates couples, their guests and the public.
Primary duties and responsibilities include:
K E Y R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S
• Develops and leads the implementation of VOW’s strategic vision and long-term plans.
• Serves as a creative connector for VOW by cultivating and maintaining relationships with VOW’s key partners, including leading wedding industry companies, advisors, influencers and donors.
• Represents VOW in the media, in various high-level forums and meetings, including, but not limited to, corporate pitch meetings, and special events.
• Stays abreast of emerging trends to inform business development strategy and proactively leads outreach to cultivate and close new partnerships with wedding industry companies and adjacent brands.
• Negotiates partnership terms and contracts with external partners (vendors, companies, influencers).
• Develops and implements an innovative and integrated communications and marketing plan to advance VOW’s differentiated brand as a unique catalyst for change.
• With a digital first strategy, effectively engages couples, celebrities, and influencers, who will help advance VOW’s brand and cause.
• An openness and drive to create and experiment with new funding campaigns to engage the public.
• Ensures all marketing initiativesand collateral created are reflective of VOW’s brand.
• Provides regular reports to and communicates with Board on relevant strategic, operational, and programmatic matters.
• Oversees the preparation of annual operating plans and budgets for review and approval by the Board.
• Successfully attracts, develops, motivates and retains a small but highly productive team, ensuring efficient operations across the organization.
• Fundraises for VOW’s operational budget and maintains strong communication with operational donors.
• Maintains the accuracy and integrity of financial information, reporting, data and disclosure requirements, internal controls, and management information systems.
Candidates should possess a passion for gender equality and girls’ rights coupled with the spirit and drive of a social entrepreneur. Additional qualities sought include:
P R O F E S S I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E /Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S
• An energetic, ambitious and visionary nature that combines leadership and intellectual curiosity with practical execution skills.
• Hands on and attentive to administrative details; comfortable and willing to "roll up sleeves" to achieve goals.
• Creative cause marketing, branding, and campaign experience across multiple platforms including social media.
• Strong relationship building skills, gravitas, and political savvy to build and sustain relationships at all levels with a diversity of stakeholders and communities.
• Possesses a genuine commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Brings the cultural competence and sensitivity needed to communicate with a variety of audiences about child marriage as a global human rights issue.
• Experience in revenue generation (business development/fundraising) and budget management.
• An ability to effectively operate in a start-up environment with flexibility and agility, providing both strategy and a high level of tactical execution; ability to creatively problem solve and achieve all objectives.
• Strong project management skills and ability to partner with others in a team-oriented environment.
• Established relationships with a network of major retail brands/individuals connected to the wedding sector would be beneficial but not required.
• Domain experience in commercial co-ventures is a plus.
E D U C A T I O N
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required.
C O N T A C T Inquiries, recommendations, and expressions of interest should be sent directly to Korn Ferry Contacts:
Divina GambleSenior Client Partner [email protected]
Nora SutherlandSenior [email protected]
Traci RobinsonProject [email protected]
Photo Credit: Pragyan Bezbaruah
