About Us
CollegeSpring is a nonprofit organization that equips schools and teachers with the tools to help students confidently prepare for the SAT and ACT. These tests are a critical part of college admissions, and every student deserves a chance to prepare. Yet test prep courses and private tutoring are often costly or hard to access. Our programs reduce this inequity by bringing high quality test preparation into schools. We build Test Confidence™ by training, supporting, and providing ongoing coaching to teachers at our partner schools to deliver the CollegeSpring curriculum to their students. Since 2008, CollegeSpring has helped provide school-day test prep to over 40,000 students across the country.
During our first 15 years, CollegeSpring has evolved through a start-up phase and subsequent expansion period, which has included growth across the U.S. and a shift from in-person program delivery to utilizing technology to enhance student learning. We are seeking a strategic leader to continue to grow our impact in the role of Chief Operating Officer. Serving as a key organizational leader, the COO will oversee internal operations and will build systems to increase efficiency and effectiveness of our program and organizational infrastructure.
For more information on CollegeSpring please visit our website.
About the Chief Operating Officer Role
The Chief Operating Officer will serve on the leadership team and help ensure CollegeSpring achieves its strategic goals and objectives. They will be the dynamic leader and driver of Finance, Operations, Talent/People Operations, and Legal, overseeing a variety of growth-related initiatives during a transformative period. The COO will report to and work in close partnership with the CEO and other leaders across the organization, positioning CollegeSpring as a high-performing, sustainable, and scalable organization living out a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of our work.
What You’ll DoThe primary responsibility of the COO will be to ensure that CollegeSpring executes on its strategic vision by developing the infrastructure – people, systems, and business model – and impact measures to achieve dramatic results and growth. The COO will serve as a leader in the following key areas:
Finance Leadership
- Collaborate with the CEO and Board to build a multi-year business model anchored in the strategic plan and programmatic offerings that meet the organization’s impact, growth, and sustainability targets.
- Develop short-term and long-term financial goals/models to maximize CollegeSpring’s impact, and regularly evaluate the organization's performance against goals.
- Use best practices to develop and oversee systems, processes, and tools for financial management and cost savings.
- Work with other senior leaders to codify the fee for service model and grow revenue from fee for service programming.
- Liaise with the Finance and Operations Committee of the Board and lead on all reports related to financial and operational metrics.
- Oversee annual budgets, variance reporting, audits, and regulatory filings.
- In partnership with the Finance and Operations Committee, partner with external advisors on cash and investment strategy.
- Directly supervise the Finance & Operations Manager and HR Manager.
Strategic Operations & Organizational Impact
- Drive operational excellence across the organization, refining and/or creating systems and processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness as CollegeSpring continues to grow in size and complexity.
- Through a strategic, organization-wide lens, lead annual goal setting process and create and monitor systems to measure progress against goals in all areas of the organization.
- Support team leaders in building long-term, effective, efficient, and scalable program strategies and processes to advance CollegeSpring’s mission, including the use of data systems to evaluate all aspects of CollegeSpring’s work.
- Streamline, optimize, and continually assess the team’s internal communication channels and technology, including better leveraging existing systems such as Salesforce, Google Suite, Smartsheet, and Dropbox, while establishing best practices to ensure alignment to team and program needs.
- Build and ensure utilization of effective systems and processes for sales operations as client base grows.
- Lead Board meeting preparation efforts by working closely with the Chairperson and CEO to align on vision, supporting staff with presentations, and coordinating with Board and Committee Chairs.
- Support the CEO in Board communication.
Talent Leadership and People Operations
- Maintain effective policies and systems that attract and retain talented and diverse team members and support their success over time.
- Exemplify core values and commitment to IDEA in daily actions and engagement and lead the charge in building an active, engaged, and committed team culture.
- Analyze the organization's overall staffing needs and develop appropriate solutions to ensure effective recruiting, hiring, training, promotions and professional development.
- Ensure the organization has competitive and comprehensive compensation and benefit offerings for employees.
How You’ll Do It
As important to CollegeSpring as what you do is how you do it. We are a highly mission-driven organization and for the COO role, we will appreciate the following competencies:
- Mission and values-driven: You hold a passionate commitment to and a sense of urgency for the support of teachers, along with a belief that all students can achieve at the highest levels. You are motivated by working in an environment that centers equity and where we live out our core values daily.
- Communication: You are able to utilize communication skills appropriate to different audiences to inspire, influence, and drive people to action, support decision-making and build relationships.
- Relationships: You are deeply relational with high emotional intelligence; you care about people and develop relationships that meet mutual goals; you value collaboration and empower others to be successful.
- Analytical and Solutions Oriented: You bring strong analytical skills and a problem-solving orientation. You look at data from multiple perspectives and use it strategically to inform the creation and evaluation of solutions.
- Project Management: You bring strong project management skills with the ability to set a vision, create an action plan, communicate about the plan, and inspire participation and collaboration to achieve end results.
- Leadership: You are able to set a vision and inspire others to ambitious goals while also understanding the steps needed to meet those goals; you have a proactive orientation and strong listening and communication skills to lead through complexity and ambiguity.
- Strategic Thinking & Planning: You bring a strategic orientation to organizational planning and use data to identify opportunities; you can connect the strategic to the tactical, manage projects effectively, and lean into challenges with a problem-solving orientation.
Experience and Qualifications
- 15+ years professional experience, including Finance and COO responsibilities, with a proven track record of facilitating sustainable change and development in a high growth environment.
- Personal alignment with CollegeSpring’s mission and core values.
- Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills, with an ability to clearly identify strategic challenges and opportunities and make tough decisions in the face of resource constraints and ambiguity.
- Strategic thinker who thinks broadly about how core organizational functions work together to support growth and impact.
- Ability to consider long-term consequences while executing with urgency.
- Demonstrated success in building rigorous systems, policies, tools, and success metrics to support a tight-knit, entrepreneurial team.
- Experience leading and managing teams while establishing high standards of excellence and accountability; professional maturity with the confidence and humility to inspire and infuse teams with purpose and enthusiasm.
- Experience enhancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging within organizations.
- Ability to inspire confidence and passion in internal and external audiences alike, including high degree of professionalism, strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Comfort with a small, growth-oriented environment; ability to serve as both a leader and a team member working towards a common goal
- Ability to manage time and prioritize multiple responsibilities.
- MBA or other advanced degree in related field strongly preferred; BA or equivalent required.
Details About the Role
- The total compensation salary range for this position is $170,000 - $190,000. In addition to salary, total compensation includes a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances, medical and dependent care reimbursement accounts, a 403(b) retirement plan with employer match, 21 paid days of holidays/office closures/recharge days, paid time off, 2 paid volunteer days, paid family leave, and a monthly work from home stipend.
- This role is remote and ideally would be based in Texas.
- We are actively working to build a diverse team; people of color, people from working-class backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ folks, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on gender, race, national origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, or gender expression.
- CollegeSpring is committed to providing flexible working arrangements for parents, caregivers, and all team members.
Contact
Cassie Scarano, Victor Arias and Ariella Pasackow of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. Please submit a compelling cover letter and resume by filling out our Talent Profile.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.
For more information about Koya Partners, visit https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/koya-partners/.