Minnesota Brownfields is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to promote, through education, research, and partnerships, the efficient cleanup and reuse of contaminated land as a means of generating economic growth, strengthening communities, and enabling sustainable land use and development.

Executive Director, Minnesota Brownfields

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director (ED) has overall strategic and operational responsibility for Minnesota Brownfields staff, programs, membership, expansion, and execution of its mission.
The ED should come with knowledge of the redevelopment field, including familiarity with the special challenges of Brownfield redevelopment, related policies, core programs, operations, and business plans. This position holds potential for additional staff development and leadership growth.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Management:

• Ensure ongoing programmatic excellence, rigorous program evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems.
• Recommend timelines and resources needed to achieve the strategic goals.
• Actively engage and energize Minnesota Brownfields volunteers, board members, event committees, alumni, partnering organizations, and funders.
• Develop, maintain, and support a strong Board of Directors; serve as ex-officio of each committee; seek and build board involvement with strategic direction for both ongoing local operations as well as for national relationships.
• Lead, coach, and develop Minnesota Brownfields’ high-performance committee work.
• Collaborate with association management company and contractors to ensure operational excellence and topic-specific proficiency.
• Ensure effective systems to track progress, and regularly evaluate program components, so as to measure successes that can be effectively communicated to the board, funders, and other constituents.
• Manage and execute numerous long-term projects, including managing budgets, contracts, and outputs in collaboration with project partners.

Fundraising & Communications:

• Expand revenue generating and fundraising activities to support existing program operations and regional expansion.
• Establish relationships with local, state, and national grantors to pursue additional sources of grant funding, in line with the mission of the organization.
• Development work, to include grant writing or contracting for grant writing and related marketing.
• Deepen and refine all aspects of communications—from web presence to external relations with the goal of creating a stronger brand.
• Use external presence and relationships to garner new opportunities.

Planning & Organizational Growth:

• Design and implement a strategic planning process at regular intervals to optimize mission impact.
• Build partnerships in new markets in Minnesota, establishing relationships with funders, elected officials and community leaders statewide.
• Be an external local and national presence that publishes and communicates program results with an emphasis on the successes of the local program as a model for regional and national replication.
• Recruiting and retaining members, expand membership base.

Qualifications

The ED will be thoroughly committed to Minnesota Brownfields mission. All candidates should have proven leadership, and relationship management experience.

Specific requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree in one or more relevant areas; including: geology, hydrology, biology, environmental engineering, environmental management, public policy, urban planning, economic development; nonprofit management, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• At least 5 years of people and project management experience, with a track record of effectively leading a performance- and outcomes-based organization; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalized strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth.
• Development background. Experience with fundraising, grant writing or contracting for grant writing.
• A persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills; strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Unwavering commitment to quality programs and data-driven program evaluation.
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach, manage, and develop high-performance committees, set, and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget.
• Past success working with a Board of Directors with the ability to cultivate existing board member relationships.
• Strong marketing and public relations experience, to fully support the organizations development work and with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders and cultures.
• Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative approach to organizational planning.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people.
• Passion, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed.

Please submit a cover letter and resume to info@mnbrownfields.org. First round of application review will occur on July 30. Position open until filled.