Executive Director

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Innovations for Poverty Action
Executive Director

Search Announcement
New Haven, CT or Washington, DC

Summary

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is announcing the creation of an Executive Director position to report to the President and work collaboratively with the Board of Directors and Senior Management Team. The Executive Director (ED) will continue and lead the development of IPA as a global organization working to address poverty and other social problems with innovation, evidence and action. The ED will ensure that IPA’s operational, research, and fiscal strategies are implemented effectively and nimbly throughout the organization.

Mission

IPA is a nonprofit dedicated to discovering what works to help the world’s poor. We design and evaluate programs in real contexts with real people, and provide hands-on assistance to bring successful programs to scale.

About IPA

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) applies rigorous research techniques to develop and test solutions to real-world problems faced by the poor in developing countries. IPA operates on the belief that innovative action driven by evidence of what works accelerates the eradication of global poverty, we partner with frontline organizations to develop and test solutions to poverty through randomized evaluations. Combining technical rigor, immediate policy interest, and solid grounding in the needs of the poor, our work helps practitioners and donors better allocate their resources and improve their operations.

IPA was founded in 2002 by Yale Economics professor Dean Karlan, who currently serves as its President. Our affiliated researchers are scholars at leading universities, including Yale, MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Princeton and Dartmouth. In the last nine years, IPA has grown to over 500 local and international staff, with over 350 projects in 43 countries including the United States. IPA’s funding has grown from $4 million in 2007 to $25 million in 2010, reflecting significant grants and contracts awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, amongst others. IPA has attracted financial support from a diverse group of funders indicating broad support of its mission and capacity to address key challenges facing developing countries. This search is part of a strategic reorganization of IPA’s senior management and applicants appropriate for Chief Operating Officer are also welcome to apply.

Position

The ED will be responsible for leading the overall operations of IPA including research and scale-up priorities, human capital, international and US offices, financial management, and external relationships with funders and policy communities.

IPA has grown quickly since its inception. The receptiveness to its research in the development and donor community has been strong, and the impact of its scaled projects is impressive. The organization’s rapid growth has challenged internal capacity for managing a vastly increased number of research and implementing partners, projects, and initiatives. The ED role will focus on managing growth through simultaneously ensuring the quality of IPA research, the credibility of its policy and technical advice, the flexibility of global operations, and soundness of financial management.

Responsibilities

Strengthening global infrastructure and operations

• Working closely with all members of the executive team:
o Support and motivate the organization’s staff
o Facilitate collaboration and strengthen internal communications with staff across all functions in the organization
o Set financial priorities accurately to ensure the organization is operating in a manner that supports the needs of IPA’s mission and clients/constituencies
o Oversee the development of an organizational budgeting process that includes detailed planning for expenses and anticipated revenues from core capacity funding, projects and retail donations
• Working closely with IPA’s policy, operations and communications team:
o Oversee external communication efforts to increase the profile of IPA as a credible policy advocacy institution worthy of public and private charitable funds
o Oversee the administrative priorities for international operations and staffing
• Working closely with IPA’s research team:
o Ensure the delivery of efficient, high-quality research and technical advisory services to all evaluation and scale-up projects
• Working closely with the finance team:
o Oversee the financial status of the organization including developing long- and short-range financial plans, monitoring the budget and ensuring sound financial controls are in place

Organizational Leadership

The ED will work together with the Board of Directors, the President, and the Senior Management Team to refine, develop, and communicate the long-run vision of IPA. The ED will play a leading role in ensuring that IPA has the operational capacity and technical know-how to implement this vision. This includes:
• Refining and leading the implementation of IPA’s new strategic plan
• Providing leadership to Senior Management, establish effective decision-making processes and appropriate oversight systems along all domains of IPA operations
• Engaging with IPA researchers to ensure that the organization’s services match the needs of high quality cost-effective research and project implementation
• Working with the Board to measure financial, programmatic, and impact performance against stated milestones and goals
• Working with the President to help expand and build a diverse Board

New Business Development and Fundraising

• Working closely with IPA’s Development Director and President, oversee the core capacity and retail fundraising efforts of the organization including the Proven Impact Initiative
• Working closely with IPA’s Research Director, oversee the expansion of IPA’s research network and new project development while ensuring strong mechanisms for quality control and sound research methodology
• Working closely with IPA researchers, Senior Management, and staff to continue to expand the number of research and scale-up initiatives that are run by IPA

Qualifications
 

• Required:
o Experience managing a large firm, organization or division with multi-country operations. Corporate and nonprofit executives are both encouraged to apply.
o Graduate level training such as a MBA, MPP, MPA or PhD in Economics.
o Strong commitment to the mission of IPA and evidence-based policy making
o Sound understanding of financial management principles
o Outstanding presentation and communication skills, ideally with some background in external communications, policy advocacy and fundraising

• Preferred:
o Prior nonprofit management experience
o Experience with board development and management

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter expressing your interest to Deb Berman ( dberman@poverty-action.org ) Reference: DevNetJobs.org)

Innovations for Poverty Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer.