Special Assistant to the President and CEO

Special Assistant

Embrace is dedicated to forging connections, educating, and energizing communities across traditional borders to foster conditions essential for equity and justice. Guided by our mission and vision, we are committed to imagining and realizing the full potential of an inclusive and equitable society. We aim to create impactful change that promotes belonging.

We envision a radically inclusive and equitable Boston where everyone belongs, with a particular focus on ensuring that marginalized communities prosper, all grounded in joy, love, and well-being. Our vision is for a city that enables all its residents to thrive, free from barriers and rich in opportunities.

Position Summary

At Embrace, the role of the Special Assistant is responsible for ensuring the productivity of the President and CEO, optimizing their schedule, and ensuring that the entire team operates at its highest efficiency. Their daily tasks carefully balance long-term strategic objectives with immediate, time-sensitive details. The SA actively prepares content for meetings, oversees presentations, and collaborates with the broader team on projects involving the President and CEO.

The Special Assistant reports to the President and CEO and holds a role that extends beyond traditional administrative duties; entrusted with the crucial task of maximizing the President and CEO's efficiency, the SA meticulously crafts the President and CEO's schedule. Daily responsibilities require a fine-tuned ability to juxtapose overarching strategic goals with pressing, detail-oriented tasks. The Assistant is actively engaged in content creation for meetings, management of presentations, and collaborates closely on projects where the President and CEO has a pivotal role. This position is an unparalleled opportunity for those deeply committed to equity and racial justice, and to thrive in a vibrant, entrepreneurial setting.

• Project manage the President and CEO's workload by scheduling all meetings and holding final responsibility for managing the President and CEO's daily calendar and logistics;
• Screen President and CEO communications aligned with organizational priorities, responding in a timely manner and/or passing along to appropriate team members;
• Create, edit and format various types of presentations and complex correspondence, including letters, meeting minutes and agendas, reports, publications and statistical data;
• Provide proactive administrative, strategic and logistical support to a rapid flow of projects and fundraising efforts, including printed daily meeting briefs and monthly expense reporting; and
• Provide administrative and project management leadership for internal and external meetings and events, including fundraising events;
• Provide administrative leadership to Board of Director meetings;
• Is a key member of the advancement team and supports CRM data entry and management;
• Expectation to attend events with the CEO that will fall during or after traditional business hours;
• Provide careful and timely responses to media inquiries in partnership with external media relations firm and senior leadership.

Participate in various Embrace Boston internal meetings, including program planning, development, resource utilization, and scheduling;

Perform other duties as assigned related to Embrace Boston's mission or to support coalition partners, funders, or other stakeholders; and

Individuals assigned to this position may perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• At least 3-5 years of relevant experience or in a role with transferable skills.

Skills, Abilities, Competencies:

• Exceptional project management skills, extremely well-organized and strong attention to detail so there is confidence that work will not need to be double checked for accuracy.
• High degree of professionalism, discretion, entrepreneurship, relationship building and stewardship, and organizational skills with the ability to work both independently and with a team.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; demonstrated experience communicating with a wide range of audiences and able to present key information in an engaging way in terms of both language and visual presentation;
• Curiosity about and interest in research; can quickly uncover facts and interested in pursuing additional information with focus and ability to draw insights from what is relevant;
• Resourcefulness in approaches to designing solutions, building relationships, and solving problems;
• A can-do and will-do attitude, i.e. no task is too high level nor too basic;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build effective relationships;
• Experience in using Salesforce or a comparable CRM, Zoom, expense processing software, as well as the ability to adapt to new technologies;
• Passion for continuous learning and development;
• Excitement about and ability to make order out of ambiguity;
• Passion for racial and economic justice;
• Comfortable working with evolving priorities and timelines;
• Ability to balance attention to process, results and relationships;
• Proficient in Google applications (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Gmail) and Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); and
• Preference for a deep awareness, understanding, and connection to the Boston community, including connections to community-based organizations and leaders.