Vice President, Initiatives

Greater Washington Partnership (the Partnership) is a cross-sector alliance of leading employers in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia committed to championing the region’s economic growth and prosperity. The Partnership is seeking an experienced program leader to serve as the connective tissue between the Partnership's policy and strategy agenda and its on-the-ground programmatic execution. Reporting to the COO/EVP Strategy, the Vice President, Initiatives is accountable for the integrated delivery of GWP's signature initiatives — ensuring they are coherent, externally credible, and tied to measurable outcomes that advance the economic competitiveness of the Baltimore-to-Richmond region.

The leader will be responsible for delivering on an ambitious, multi-workstream agenda at a moment of expanding scope for the Partnership. A successful candidate will be an orchestrator and integrator: someone who can see across multiple initiatives, keep teams aligned and performing, and represent GWP with precision in senior external settings.

As the VP, Initiatives, your responsibilities will include:

• Accountable for the full lifecycle of GWP's signature initiatives — Skills & Talent (S&T), Regional Mobility and Infrastructure (RMI), and Economic Growth (EG).
• Sets annual workplans and milestones across all workstreams in alignment with board priorities and the COO's strategic direction.
• Identifies risks, resource constraints, and sequencing conflicts across the portfolio; escalates to the COO and proposes solutions.
• Tracks portfolio alignment with GWP's policy pillars (S&T, RMI, EG), ensuring initiative workplans reinforce the Partnership's broader policy agenda.
• Exercises day-to-day leadership and decision-making authority across the initiative portfolio, escalating to the COO only those matters requiring strategic direction or organizational tradeoffs.
• Prepares or co-prepares initiative-related content for board meetings, Executive Committee briefings, and committee materials.
• Anticipates when initiative status has governance or reputational implications and flags proactively.
• Serves as the integration layer across S&T, RMI, EG — convening Sr. Directors and Directors, resolving cross-initiative conflicts, and ensures workstreams reinforce rather than duplicate each other.

External Representation & Stakeholder Management

• Builds and manages partner relationships across initiatives, securing participation, commitments, resources, and follow-through from senior stakeholders.
• Partners with the CEO and COO on stakeholder engagement strategy for major convenings.
• Supports major regional convenings tied to GWP’s initiatives by helping prepare briefing materials for high-visibility stakeholder moments.

People Leadership & Organizational Capacity

• Directly manages initiative Sr. Directors and Directors; provides direction, development, and ongoing coaching.
• Ensures each workstream is properly resourced and that team members have clarity on objectives, timelines, and stakeholder relationships.
• Assess initiative workload across the portfolio and flags when capacity constraints require hiring, restructuring, or reprioritization.

How Success Is Measured

Success in this role will be demonstrated through the following:

• Initiative portfolio on track against annual workplans; milestones met across S&T, RMI, and EG.
• High-performing Sr. Directors and Directors; team capacity and professional development improving over time.