Executive Director, SAGE VentureTM Remote

SAGE

Executive Director, SAGE Venture^TM

Remote

 

 

About SAGE

 

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, (LGBTQ+) older people. In partnership with its constituents and allies, SAGE works to achieve a high quality of life for LGBTQ+ older people, supports and advocates for their rights, fosters a greater understanding of aging in all communities and promotes positive images of LGBTQ+ life in later years.

 

SAGE is grounded in the spirit of “nothing about us without us.” The organization listens respectfully to the full breadth of voices of LGBTQ+ older people and seeks to positively impact all LGBTQ+ older people. SAGE’s work is data-driven, disciplined, and responsive to change. They work hard, continually improve, and are accountable for excellent outcomes. SAGE’s core values are: Older voices come first; Diversity and equity; Collaborative teamwork and partnership; Innovation; Top performance in a diverse marketplace; Respect; and Compassion.

 

SAGE recently launched a new 5-year Strategic Plan that emphasizes scaling its impact on behalf of LGBTQ+ older people and diversifying its reach through an expansion of its organizational structure and decentralization of organizational leadership and decision-making.  Part of this shift is the creation of two new divisions at SAGE, each with its own Executive Director. SAGE Serves^TM will house the agency’s historical direct service programs in New York City and those replicated in South Florida.  SAGE Venture^TM will house existing and new mission-based ventures and opportunities for profit-generating initiatives that align with the organization’s mission.

 

Read more about SAGE here.
 

About the Opportunity:

The Executive Director of SAGE Venture^TM is a member of SAGE’s Leadership Team. Reporting to SAGE’s Executive Vice President/CFO, the inaugural Executive Director of SAGE Venture^TM has the exciting opportunity to join the organization during a time of inflection, reflection, and growth. Building on the momentum of a new strategic plan, the Executive Director will lead a newly formed division of the organization. The new social enterprise division will encompass SAGECare, a thriving enterprise providing training, consulting and credentialing on LGBTQ+ aging issues to elder care, service, and housing providers; and new social enterprise ventures that SAGE intends to assess and pursue.  SAGE’s new strategic plan commits the organization to moving 5 new ventures from ideation to market validation and having at least one of these become profitable in 5 years.

 

Social enterprises for SAGE are programs that further its organizational mission and operate as revenue-generating, financially sustainable, fee-for-service businesses.  SAGE’s social enterprise strategy furthers the organization’s core mission.  It also advances SAGE’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitment by generating profits that may be deployed to fund programs that directly affect SAGE’s DEI goals, by subsidizing costs of services for historically marginalized groups, and/or by advancing social enterprises that serve historically marginalized groups directly.

 

The ideal candidate should understand the nuances of evaluating, launching and operating mission-driven, mission-led businesses, and thrive on building lean startups. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of success in driving social enterprises as a bold, entrepreneurial risk taker. The ideal candidate has a passion for – and commitment to – SAGE’s mission to equitably serve the full diversity of LGBTQ+ elders so that they achieve a high quality of life, as well as the organization’s core values of innovation and top performance in a diverse marketplace.

 

Responsibilities

 

Executive Leadership & Management

 

• Lead and develop vision, strategy, direction, and operational plans for the SAGE Venture^TM division, partnering with agency executive leaders and program staff.
• Grow and scale the impact and reach of SAGECare.
• Assess and evaluate new potential Social Enterprise initiatives, including two that are currently in the ideation/market validation stage: a partnership venture to provide comprehensive community-based healthcare and services to at-risk LGBTQ+ older adults, and the provision of fee-for-service care coordination.
• Identify and explore additional mission-centered ventures/ideas, with the goal to bring three to market/validation stage in the next five years.
• Serve as a key leader across the organization to build the policies and structures necessary for two new divisions to operate with high degrees of autonomy and success, while simultaneously supporting overall organizational goals and strategies in a One SAGE framework.

 

Team & Culture Leadership

 

• Build upon a strong, mission-driven culture that centers equity while prioritizing the sustainable scaling of SAGE’s impact, including through its social enterprises.
• Assess current people and culture assets of the new division to align with the mandates of SAGE’s new Strategic Plan:
• At least five potential ventures moved through venture ideation and market validation stages within the 5-year implementation period.
• In addition to SAGECare, at least one more revenue-generating venture will be profitable within 5-year implementation period​.

• Structure the division and function of the teams for the future.
• Lead the SAGE Venture^TM team in a highly effective manner, focused on short-and long-term outcomes against SAGE’s strategic goals and core values.
• Foster transparent communication and collaboration among initiatives and across departments.

 

External Engagement & Partnership Building

 

• Represent, position, sell, and scale SAGE’s ventures through the cultivation and exploration of new partnerships and relationships.  
• Leverage SAGE’s existing expertise, experience and data, including through the newly launched SAGE Center of Excellence, as a key means of having a pulse on community need.
• Build and leverage SAGE’s networks and create new networks to identify venture opportunities; engage stakeholders in order to have a pulse of the community need and corresponding business opportunities.

 

 

Qualifications

 

• Proven experience and ability to work in a mission-driven environment; priority for someone who has experience working within the aging or healthcare space and is connected to the LGBTQ+ community
• Creative and strategic visionary who has a strong background in social enterprise, entrepreneurship, and business acumen
• Demonstrated experience taking an idea from conception to implementation and/or proven experience in scaling a program or an organization
• Ability to collaborate across the organization, be a team player, gain buy-in, and be able to draw upon others in the organization
• Experience in change management, supporting staff through change, scaling, and growth, and can be a respectful agent of change
• Proven experience in supervision and management, specifically with a diverse, remote staff; encourages a sense of autonomy
• Data oriented with experience setting, tracking, and holding themselves and others accountable for meeting and exceeding key performance indicators/metrics  
• Proven track record of advancing equity and inclusion both internally and externally
• Comfort and confidence in being a spokesperson and salesperson for a product or organization; ability to clearly communicate and persuade others
• Experience and familiarity working with different revenue sources

 

 

 

 

Salary & Location:

SAGE offers a competitive salary and benefits package. The salary range for this role is $175-$200K. This position can be remote with occasional travel to SAGE’s offices in NYC, or housed in SAGE’s NYC offices, based on the preference of the candidate.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity:

SAGE is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, ethnicity, creed, color, religion, sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, citizenship status, marital or family status, family medical history or genetic information, veteran status, HIV serostatus, military or military discharge status, height, weight, disability or handicap, domestic violence victim status, employment status, socioeconomic status, criminal history or arrest record, sexual or other reproductive health decisions, natural hair or hairstyle, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. SAGE is dedicated to this policy, with respect to all matters concerning employment.

 

 

 

Sarah Raful Whinston, Principal

Jess Hammerman, Managing Director, Search

Sarah Skrovan, Senior Associate