Chief Executive Officer - iMentor

About iMentor:

Celebrating over 20 years of impact, iMentor is one of the most innovative college success organizations in the country. iMentor believes that all students deserve an equitable chance to pursue their ambitions. Our program builds authentic mentoring relationships in order to bring greater equity to our students’ educational journeys. Through these long-term relationships, first-generation, students of color from underserved communities increase their access to the knowledge, experiences, and resources required to succeed in college or their post-secondary pathway of choice, and to pursue their career ambitions.

By partnering with public schools serving primarily first-generation college students and providing every student in the school with a mentor, iMentor supports students’ post-secondary journeys with a level of depth and personalization that cannot be matched by traditional advising models. iMentor’s students are 37% more likely to enroll in college and are graduating college at double the rates of their peers. Since inception, iMentor has created and supported 35,000 mentoring relationships.

iMentor is in year three of an ambitious five-year strategic plan for which iMentor has raised a significant round of strategic capital. By 2023, the organization will grow to serve an additional 30,000 young people and expand from serving 19 communities to 33. Over the course of the plan, iMentor’s work will be oriented around three primary strategic priorities: continue to close the college completion gap for iMentor students; expand iMentor’s influence beyond the direct reach of its program; and position iMentor for organizational excellence at national scale.

About the Chief Executive Officer Opportunity:

Even as iMentor has a mature program model that has been refined over 20 years and is demonstrating significant impact in diverse communities across the country, the organization is preparing for its next phase of impact. The incoming CEO will have the exciting opportunity to build upon iMentor’s two decades of growth and expansion, unifying an extraordinarily talented team and rallying them around a compelling shared vision for the next decade.

Areas of Leadership:

• Develop and drive a clear vision for the next chapter of the organization: Lead and implement an inclusive process to build a shared vision and operational plan for the direction of the organization, building buy-in and incorporating feedback from a diverse and representative group of stakeholders, and unifying and inspiring the entire iMentor community.
• Build a culture of trust, collaboration, and organizational cohesion: In partnership with the leaders of the organization, model and build a culture that centers and prioritizes equity, justice, inclusion, belonging, justice, and trust. Work with all members of the organization to dismantle all forms of oppression and racism, systems of white supremacy, and unconscious bias, and ensure a culture that centers justice and belonging. Build cohesion across multiple locations and teams, unifying teams around a shared vision and mutual accountability to ensure strong culture and outcomes.
• Ensure the strength and sustainability of the organization: Working with key leaders and stakeholders across the organization and Board, determine iMentor’s next chapter of evolution, impact, structure, and growth, considering the right model, the right fundraising strategy, and how to leverage partners and build on the organization’s key strengths.
• Serve as a force multiplier to the executive leadership team: Work with executive leaders to build a culture of team, shared responsibility, and respect for subject matter expertise. Lead complex verticals - with and through executive leaders - in a thoughtful and additive way.

Key Qualifications:

• Mission & Values Alignment: Deep belief in iMentor’s mission, support for first-generation college students, and the power of mentoring relationships to create mutual learning and connection so that students are on a path to meeting their goals. Demonstrated understanding of the first-generation college student experience. Experience working directly in the education/youth development sector ideal.
• Executive & Organizational Leadership: Phenomenal organizational leader and people manager with a track record of leading teams around a vision, expertly managing change. Proven ability to define and refine an organization’s north star, centering a team on that north star to deepen its impact. History of strong and productive partnership with a high functioning board of directors. Experience leading a geographically distributed team is a strong plus.
• Advancement Experience: Track record raising multi-year, multi-million dollar gifts for a nonprofit organization, and building relationships with institutional donors and high net worth individuals who are committed to an organization’s mission. Proven ability to design and implement financially sustainable programs and business models. Outstanding storyteller and communicator with ability to engage and inspire diverse audiences.
• Team & Culture Leader: A leader who prioritizes relationship building, listening, and collaboration to promote trust and engagement in an organization. History of delegating authority and empowering leaders at all levels of an organization. Strong collaborator, support, and co-conspirator to senior leadership. Track record of adding value and thought partnership to senior leaders whose expertise is different from their own. Proven ability to stabilize an organization or team culture that is experiencing challenges. Extremely strong relationship and culture builder.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership: Demonstrated fluency and effectiveness in anti-racist vocabulary and practice. Experience examining structures of oppression, white supremacy culture, and bias at the organization level. Leadership practice that actively centers equity and inclusivity in management and decision making.

iMentor’s Values & Culture:

iMentor has been recognized nationally through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New Profit, the Lumina Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Robin Hood Foundation, and was a subgrantee of the federal Social Innovation Fund. As a team, we are collaborative, fun, bring passion and joy to our work, and deeply believe in human potential. iMentor was recently named one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For by Opportunity Knocks and The Nonprofit Times. Read more about our work and values at: http://www.imentor.org.

iMentor’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We believe that people of all backgrounds deserve equal access to educational opportunities. Recognizing that our country’s history of racism and systemic oppression continues to drive educational disparities for students of color, we give special focus to addressing the economic and racial divides that impact the communities we serve. We are committed to the collective work and intentional investment necessary to consistently move in the direction of educational equity and inclusion. Learn more at www.iMentor.org.