Executive Assistant to the President

Executive Assistant To The President

Grays Harbor College is accepting applications for the Executive Assistant to the President. The Executive Assistant to the President serves as a highly trusted strategic partner and administrative support to the President, ensuring the effective operation of the President's Office and advancing institutional priorities. This position manages complex and confidential matters, coordinates executive communications, oversees the President's schedule and key initiatives, and serves as a primary liaison among the President, Board of Trustees, senior leaders, faculty, staff, students, elected officials, donors, and community partners. The Executive Assistant provides high-level support for governance, strategic planning, project management, and special events, while exercising exceptional judgment, discretion, diplomacy, and professionalism. As a visible representative of the President's Office, this role plays a critical part in fostering positive relationships, supporting institutional advancement efforts, and promoting the mission, vision, and strategic goals of the college.

Grays Harbor College serves the communities of Grays Harbor and Pacific counties on the Pacific coast of Washington. Located in Aberdeen, Washington at the base of the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, the College is less than an hour away from scenic Pacific Ocean beaches and close to both the Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks. Grays Harbor provides the perfect landscape to enjoy the abundance of excellent outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, biking, fishing, clam digging, surfing, boating, and various kayak/canoe paddling opportunities. Grays Harbor College has a strong commitment to the achievement of equity and inclusion among its faculty, staff and students and values the rich diverse backgrounds that make up the campus community. To ensure the college provides an inclusive educational and employment environment focused on strategies for success and equitable outcomes for all, the incumbent in this position should understand, and experience with, successfully supporting individuals with varying backgrounds, including people with disabilities; people with various gender identities and sexual orientations; individuals from historically underrepresented communities; and other groups.

This is not intended to be an exclusive list of all duties and responsibilities. Related duties and responsibilities may be assigned by the President.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

President's Office

• Manages and oversee the daily operations of the President's Office, which includes managing the president's calendar, developing office procedures, and ensuring the delivery of high quality, customer-focused services that meet the needs of internal/external constituencies.
• Establishes and maintain effective communication and working relationships with faculty, staff, executive administrators, and students.
• Monitors and manages budgets for the President's Office.
• Screens, prioritizes, and responds to incoming calls, mail, e-mail and visitors to the President's Office.
• Provides supporting information and materials to the President for appointments and meetings.
• Composes letters, memorandums, reports, speeches and other various correspondence at the direction of the President.
• Ensures the flow of relevant, timely, and clear communication and information to and from the President's Office.
• Coordinates travel arrangements and expense reimbursement for the President.
• Takes minutes at President's Cabinet, College Council and other Presidential meetings.
• Exercises good judgment when dealing with sensitive and confidential matters relative to college business and personnel matters.
• Participates in the statewide Professional Assistants for Community and Technical Colleges (PACTC).
• Serves as the primary point of contact for the President on day-to-day issues and communicates on behalf of the president with various constituencies regarding planning, collaborative efforts, projects, and operational and strategic matters as assigned.
• Assists the President in developing and coordinating special events hosted by or for the college (e.g. President and Trustee meetings, State Board meetings, Commission meetings, receptions, social events and other campus events.)
• Leads monthly meetings of the assistants' team for collaboration, cross--functional communication, and coordination of critical assignments which are essential to the success of the President's Cabinet.
• Serves as a liaison with and provides operational support to executives, departments heads, and board members, to ensure that special projects are completed and organizational goals are met.
• Monitors special project progress, drafting and distributing periodic progress reports for leadership and stakeholders.
• Supports and advances the Grays Harbor College Vision, Mission, and Strategic Priorities.
• Maintains compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and best practices in support of the President and the Board of Trustees.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Board of Trustees

• Serves as Executive Assistant to the Board of Trustees and ensures the highest level of confidentiality regarding matters of the President and Board of Trustees.
• Coordinates monthly and special Board meetings. Responsibilities include but are not limited to: collecting, compiling and/or preparing the agenda and supporting documents; coordinating meeting notifications and logistics such as food and location reservations; and taking accurate minutes to be shared with the public.
• Maintains effective communication with the Board of Trustees, college relations, college foundation, the community, other agencies (e.g., WACTC, Washington ACT, SBCTC), and peers.
• Maintains the integrity and implementation of the Open Public Meetings Act.
• Arranges travel for Board members including registration, lodging, transportation and special needs.
• Coordinates the onboarding of all new trustees.
• Updates and coordinates with appropriate areas of the Administrative and Board policies and coordinates related procedures following the Grays Harbor College Policies and Procedures Review Schedule.
• Maintains the Grays Harbor College specific WACs (Washington Administrative Code) rules in accordance with statute.
• Supports the senior leadership to prepare reports, materials, and communications to the Board.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Associate degree from an accredited college or university and three year's executive-level administrative experience in Administrative roles supporting executive level positions OR equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with internal and external audiences including effective inter-departmental communication skills.
• Ability to handle sensitive and/or complex situations with confidentiality and discretion.
• Ability to use sound judgment, possess superior political acumen and interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively and diplomatically with multiple constituencies.
• Advanced proficiency in the use of technology including but not limited to Microsoft Office Suite and other business operating systems such as CTCLink (PeopleSoft)
• Proficiency in recording meeting minutes.
• Experience developing and managing budgets and analyzing and interpreting complex materials.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion and the ability to support a diverse workplace and educational environment.
• Demonstrated ability to organize, compile, and analyze information to prepare reports, speeches, presentations and other communications accurately and succinctly using information processing technology.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor degree from an accredited college or university.
• Experience working in higher education.
• Prior experience working with boards or governing bodies and open public meetings requirements.
• Problem solving, conflict resolution and team building skills.
• Experience coordinating executive meetings, travel and retreats.
• Bi-lingual Spanish/English
• Sense of humor.

Supplemental Information

In addition to the GHC online Application you will need to submit the following materials. Incomplete applications will not be accepted or considered.

• Letter of application addressing your qualifications for the position.
• Resume
• Contact information for 3 professional references.
• Transcripts of college work completed. Unofficial copies are acceptable.

Background checks - Prior to a new hire, a background check including criminal record history will be conducted. Information from the background check will not necessarily preclude employment but will be considered in determining the applicant's suitability and competence to perform in the position. Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington State Law.

Grays Harbor College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, religion, marital status, veteran status, genetics, or age in its programs, activities, and employment. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: