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POSITION: Executive Director
ORGANIZATION: PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT
San Francisco, California
www.pacificenvironment.org
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND: Pacific Environment protects the living environment of the northern Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots organizing, strengthening local and regional environmental initiatives, and advocating for reform of public policies and business practices that threaten the environment. Pacific Environment currently has a staff of 20 and an annual budget of approximately $2.5 million, sourced primarily from foundations but also supported by a growing roster of individual donors.
The northern Pacific Rim and Arctic are tied closely together by environmental challenges that require a combination of international and local perspectives and strategies. Pacific Environment’s programs are designed to work together to support a broad bioregional vision of sustainability—with programs ranging from marine conservation to anti-water-pollution efforts to energy system transformation to “greening” regional investment. Pacific Environment was established twenty years ago to work in eastern Russia and California, and those programs continue today. More recently, Pacific Environment has been working in China to support grassroots environmental groups that provide ‘bottom-up’ solutions to local environmental threats, and to bring China’s nascent “civil society” into contact with other Pacific Rim activists to tackle broader-scale resource management challenges. Pacific Environment also works at the macro-level through its Responsible Finance program, which seeks to hold public finance sources such as the World Bank and export credit agencies, as well as private banks, accountable for the way in which their institutions and portfolios affect the environment. For more detailed information on Pacific Environment’s programs, please see the attached Appendix.
REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS: The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors.
RESPONSIBILITIES: The Executive Director, as the chief executive officer, is responsible for the management of all policies, programs and operations of Pacific Environment. This includes developing the programmatic vision and strategy; fundraising; administrative and fiduciary functions; and representing the organization to stakeholders and the broad community with which Pacific Environment interacts.
Specifically, the Executive Director:
• Helps determine and ensure, in partnership with the governing Board, that the programmatic mission, vision and values of Pacific Environment are carried out. This includes initiating long-range strategic and operational planning, and being responsible and accountable for implementation of all such plans, including the development of new or expanded programs as needed or as opportunities arise.
• Develops budgets, oversees revenues and expenditures, maintains internal controls and financial discipline, and works closely with the Board to ensure the financial well-being of the organization.
• Represents Pacific Environment as an articulate, persuasive, charismatic advocate to community stakeholders, funders, grantees, other partner organizations, and the media.
• Identifies, cultivates, and solicits foundation, corporate and individual grants and gifts in support of Pacific Environment and its work.
• Manages senior staff, including the Deputy Director for Operations and Development and the Program Directors.
• Takes executive responsibility for organizational compliance with all applicable non-profit laws, contractual obligations, and donor restrictions, and maintains appropriate internal policies and procedures to ensure such compliance.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: International environmental passion, perspective, and experience, including an understanding of multicultural differences, a deep sensitivity to issues of social justice, and a concern for the engagement and empowerment of all stakeholders in influencing policies and practices that threaten their environment and ways of life.
Specifically, the ideal candidate will have:
• Leadership ability - Ensures that, in partnership with the governing Board and in collegial consultation with the staff, funders, and external colleagues, the mission and vision of Pacific Environment are carried out to the highest standards - effectively, efficiently, consistently, ethically, and collaboratively.
• Strategic Vision - The ability to anticipate changing environmental needs and initiate long-range programmatic, strategic and operational planning, and to accept responsibility for the implementation of all such plans. Willingness to take carefully-calculated risks, ability to execute, openness to feedback, and ability to alter direction – all in resonance with Pacific Environment’s mission.
• Management ability - Demonstrated ability to oversee the administrative and fiduciary functions of Pacific Environment by recruiting, training, supervising, mentoring and delegating duties and responsibilities to a dispersed, dedicated, and able staff, with whom s/he identifies collegially. S/he will be able to facilitate strategic planning and decision-making processes, engage stakeholders in such processes, and make and implement decisions.
• Fundraising - Knowledge of the funding universe, especially that of foundations, and demonstrated ability to identify, cultivate, and solicit potential major individual donors, corporations, and government agencies.
• Administrative Experience – Possesses the administrative skills transferable to a complex non-profit environmental organization, including budgeting experience commensurate with a similarly sized organization.
• Other – Comfort and experience with frequent and extensive international travel, frequently in developing communities.
Fluency in Mandarin and/or Russian a plus.
EDUCATION: Lifelong learning and educational achievement appropriate to the complexity of the position.
COMPENSATION: Negotiable based on experience and salary history, in a gratifying work environment.
Robert M. Fisher and Michael Loscavio of Rusher Loscavio Executive Search are privileged to provide transition and recruitment counsel to the Board of Directors of the Pacific Environment. All discussions with prospects for this position will be treated with utmost discretion.
We would be grateful to receive inquiries, expressions of interest, nominations and applications in strict confidence at the following address: bfisher@rll.com
About Pacific Environment
Pacific Environment is a non-profit organization that protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots activism, strengthening communities and reforming international policies. For nearly two decades, we have partnered with local communities around the Pacific Rim to protect and preserve the ecological treasures of this vital region. Together with partners in Russia, China, Japan, Alaska, California and elsewhere, we’ve shielded tens of thousands of acres of old growth forest; we’ve won protections for endangered species; we’ve forced oil, gas and mining companies to heed local concerns; and we’ve changed the way some of the world’s most powerful financial institutions work.
Pacific Environment’s success stems from a deep and abiding trust that local people, armed with the right tools and solid support, are the world’s best hope for environmental renewal. We see ourselves as a catalyst in a community of individuals and organizations working to protect the Pacific Rim’s wild places and wild life. As such, we support the development of grassroots organizations around the Pacific Rim, prioritize coalition-based advocacy, and use international leverage points in the service of our local partners. Visit www.pacificenvironment.org to learn more about our work.
