Associate State Director – MI-SBDC

Grand Valley State University•Grand Rapids, MI

14d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a strategic partner to the State Director, the Associate State Director (ASD) serves as the operational architect of the Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC). This role serves as a bridge between high-level vision and organizational execution, working closely with the Executive Team to ensure operational excellence, mission alignment, and cultural health.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree.
8+ years of leadership experience.
Demonstrated independent problem-solving skills.
High-level executive presence and the ability to serve as a surrogate for the State Director.
Experience in developing and tracking strategic plans.
Experience negotiating, synthesizing, and implementing changes within a contractual agreement.
Change management skills.
Ability and willingness to travel both within Michigan and nationally.
Experience with compliance and enforcement of stakeholder policies.
Physical stamina to work long hours and/or more than 5 days per week.

Nice To Haves

Master of Public Administration or Master of Business Administration or related field.
Proven track record of cross-functional team building and consensus-building within a complex, multi-stakeholder environment. (e.g., University and Government Partnerships)
Project/change management certification.
Experience with Federal Grants, reporting, and management
Experience with CRM platforms.

Responsibilities

Authors operating guidelines with the State Director to ensure the SBDC’s policies, procedures, and infrastructure scale with its strategic vision.
Operationalizes new requirements for programs.
Maintains the operations manual, procedures, and policies.
Stewards SBDC employee understanding and execution of grant terms and conditions through proactive training, education, and communication.
Manages grant terms and conditions, compliance with requirements, and annual renewals.
Promotes organizational impact, communicating the SBDC’s value to federal and state stakeholders.
Leads semi-annual and annual report generation.
Negotiates and manages stakeholder contracts. (State, Federal & Host)
Synthesizes changes to contractual agreements, creates operational procedures, goals, and communication, and then monitors progress.
Point person for SBA/MEDC programming or events.
Responsible for confidentiality matters affiliated with grant requirements.
Supports annual and 3-year strategic planning processes and develops implementation progress reports.
Empowers and mentors two direct reports: Assistant State Director, overseeing Technology Strategy and Operations, and Assistant State Director overseeing Human Resources, Talent Development, and Marketing.
Collaborates with the Executive Team to enable new programming and communication.
Leads and oversees processes to develop, document, communicate, and administer policy, procedures, and operations of the SBDC.
Ensures products and services are responsibly managed for compliance through guidance and validation of program impact.
Develops policies & performance accountability/evaluation.
Facilitates strategy implementation by leading weekly operations and monthly leadership team meetings.
Translates stakeholder (OSBDC / ASBDC / MEDC) updates into collaborative action items for the executive leadership team.
Supports the development of grant applications and efforts to acquire additional funding aligned with organizational strategies.
Co-Leads, with the State Director, the network preparation for accreditation (Next accreditation is in 2028).
Supports the Director of Finance and Grants on matters affiliated with vendors, clients, hosts, and employees.
Responsible for tracking grant program progress and preparing action steps to remediate any areas that are not meeting project pace or legal compliance.
Supports audit requirements.
Manages the Michigan SBDC Advisory Board.
Partners with Client Services and Finance on grants aligned with small business technical assistance.
Primary grant writer.
Serves as Interim State Director as needed.