Executive Director

About This Role

The Executive Director provides strategic and collaborative leadership to strengthen Potomac Highlands United Way (PHUW) as a regional convener and driver of community impact. This leader sets direction, grows financial resources linked to community priorities, builds understanding of PHUW’s role, and ensures sound stewardship of people, finances, programs, and operations. The Executive Director is accountable for organizational performance and day-to-day management within policies established by the board.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the board, staff, volunteers, and community members to set long-term direction and translate it into annual priorities, plans, and measurable results
• Build trusted relationships among employers, government, education, health and human services, donors, and residents across all four counties
• Convene partners around practical responses to local priorities, including the needs of ALICE households
• Guide programs, community investments, and grantmaking with clear goals, consistent administration, partner input, and evaluation of outcomes
• Set resource development goals with the board and lead diversified strategies for workplace campaigns, individual and major gifts, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, grants, and endowment or planned giving where appropriate
• Personally cultivate and steward key donor, business, civic, and funding relationships; engage board members and staff in a coordinated approach to fundraising
• Represent PHUW in public forums and with the media
• Communicate its mission, role, results, and opportunities to participate with clarity and credibility
• Serve as the board’s principal staff partner, providing candid information, timely recommendations, and support for policy, strategy, governance, and committee work
• Engage staff and volunteers in planning; track progress and risks against strategic and annual plans and report them regularly to the board
• Recruit, coach, delegate to, supervise, and evaluate staff
• Foster open communication, fair treatment, teamwork, accountability, and professional growth
• Lead a first-year assessment of roles, workloads, recurring tasks, approval steps, technology, events, and program processes
• Listen to staff, identify duplication and bottlenecks, test improvements, and recommend work to simplify, redesign, automate, delegate, or stop
• Present a phased operational improvement and capacity plan to the board, including priorities, costs, measures of staff workload and service quality, and evidence-based recommendations for staffing and other resources
• Develop the annual budget with appropriate staff and board leaders
• Monitor revenue, expenses, cash flow, controls, financial reporting, and long-term financial sustainability