Executive Assistant

ABOUT US

The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff. The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others. Visit our website to learn more about our commitment and recent actions taken toward building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment.

College Excellence Program (CEP)

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (CEP) aims to identify and replicate practices and policies that significantly improve college student outcomes. Through our portfolio of projects, CEP works to improve colleges’ capacity to achieve high levels of success for all students and to eliminate disparities in postsecondary attainment and social mobility for students from low-income backgrounds and historically marginalized and underserved groups. Our work focuses on improving higher education institutions in six areas: ensuring high-quality learning, increasing completion rates, improving community college transfer and baccalaureate attainment, increasing post-college employment and earnings outcomes, ensuring strong access to college credentials of value, and achieving equity in outcomes across all domains. We advance those outcomes by quantitatively identifying and publicly elevating those colleges achieving excellent and equitable outcomes, conducting research on how those outcomes were accomplished, publishing reports and practical tools to support college leaders and practitioners interested in replicating effective practices, and conducting professional development programs for presidents, senior teams, boards of trustees, and others. Learn more about our work at https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The College Excellence Program seeks a seasoned Executive Assistant for CEP’s Executive Director. Qualified candidates will have several years of experience as an Executive Assistant for a senior leader in a nonprofit organization or currently serve in this capacity with several years of career progression in administrative positions. Experience must show an ability to orchestrate complex administrative duties in a fast-paced environment, interact with high-profile internal and external stakeholders, and resolve a high volume of requests to advance concurrent workstreams in a hybrid office setting. The Executive Assistant will operate at multiple levels – balancing the details of specific tasks with an overall understanding of organizational needs – to successfully manage competing demands for the Executive Director’s time and resources. Our ideal candidate is sufficiently detail-oriented; exercises good judgment and discretion; and brings a proactive mindset that helps solve problems, applies learning to improve administrative support, and seeks opportunities to build relationships and trust within CEP.

This position is based in Aspen’s Washington, DC office with a minimum of 40% in-person work (two days per week) and a target salary range of $70,000 - $95,000. For highly qualified candidates, CEP will consider applications seeking a part-time role. This role will report to CEP’s Director of Operations.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Orchestrate complex administrative duties in a fast-paced environment (35%)

• Maintain the Executive Director’s calendar. Exercise discretion in evaluating needs, prioritizing requests, and committing time. Schedule meetings, appointments, and other engagements with necessary transition periods. Maintain flexible and proactive scheduling systems to accommodate shifting calendars and priorities, keeping the Executive Director well-informed of any urgent requests or late adjustments.
• Coordinate travel arrangements for the Executive Director. Book transportation (airfare, train, rental vehicle), hotel accommodations, and other reservations (meals) based on travel preferences, personal needs, and event considerations (purpose of travel and role/expectations during the trip). Coordinate with external constituents on sponsored travel arrangements, when appropriate.
• Perform a variety of recurring duties such as preparing, reconciling, and submitting expense reimbursements, vendor payments, and honoraria in a timely and accurate manner.

Interact with high-profile internal and external stakeholders (20%)

• Communicate professionally and accurately with internal (Aspen) and external (philanthropies, college presidents, partners) stakeholders. Prioritize responses based on the stakeholder’s role, urgency of their request, and content or effort required.
• Organize and support all aspects of meetings to include gathering documents, in-person and/or virtual meeting logistics, virtual meeting creation (e.g., Zoom) or room reservation, audio-visual setup, catering, and minutes. Assist with reviewing presentations and reports, as requested.
• Organize and support all aspects of events (and convenings) to include logistics planning, preparations, and bookings; contracts facilitation; event itinerary scheduling and execution support; debriefings with documented follow-up actions; and post-event expense processing, invoice tracking, and contract closeout.

Resolve a high volume of requests to advance concurrent workstreams in a hybrid office setting (35%)

• Communicate and work directly with CEP’s Managing Director, division directors, and program teams. Be proactive in clarifying requests to minimize assumptions. Maintain awareness of progress in committing the Executive Director’s time or providing the support needed.
• Manage multiple, concurrent tasks and requests with the capacity to adapt for changing deadlines and priorities. Determine the priority of matters requiring the Executive Director’s attention, redirecting lower priorities to colleagues or handling personally, as appropriate. Keep the Executive Director advised of time-sensitive issues.
• Facilitate contract, agreement, or expense requests that require the Executive Director’s approval.

Other duties as assigned (10%)

• Provide administrative support for CEP staff and with central Aspen, as needed.
• Hold confidential information with respect and professionalism.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVE

• 5+ years of relevant experience is required as an Executive Assistant for a senior leader in a nonprofit organization or through a career progression in administrative positions toward this role.
• A high school diploma is required; a bachelor’s degree is preferred.
• Experience working as a member of an administrative team or collaborating with administrative colleagues across an organization is required. Experience in a hybrid work environment is preferred.
• Solid practical experience with enterprise systems for credit card and expense processing (e.g., SAP Concur, Tipalti), grants management (e.g., Airtable), and customer relationship management (e.g., Salesforce) is preferred.
• Polished excellence, high emotional intelligence, and executive presence with a keen penchant for building and maintaining work relationships.
• Top notch organizational and time management skills with proactive thinking, prioritization, and problem solving.
• Significant experience managing office procedures and working with sensitive high-level information.

HOW TO APPLY

All interested applicants must submit the following for full consideration:

1. A one-page cover letter. CEP prefers cover letters that describe what motivates you and how you understand and relate to our mission rather than a narrative version of your resume. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
2. Resume/CV.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

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