Director of Presidential Operations

University of Mount Saint Vincent•New York, NY

13h•$110,000 - $120,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Presidential Operations is responsible for maximizing the effectiveness of the President and the Office of the President through exceptional executive operations, sound judgment, proactive coordination, and flawless execution. Reporting directly to the President and working in close partnership with the Vice President for Strategy, the Director manages the operating infrastructure of the Office of the President and owns the operational integration between the two leaders - ensuring that shared priorities, strategic sequencing, executive decision-making, calendar choreography, and institutional execution remain synchronized across the work of the Office of the President. This role combines sophisticated executive judgment with hands-on responsibility for the essential administrative functions of a highly active President's Office, including complex calendar management, domestic and international travel, Board of Trustees operations, executive meeting preparation, correspondence and briefing workflows, records, office operations, events, visitors, and selected scheduling and logistics support for the Vice President for Strategy. The Director serves as a trusted operating partner who is expected to anticipate needs, exercise independent judgment, distinguish urgency from importance, identify and resolve problems before they reach the President, and maintain clarity and momentum amid constantly shifting priorities. This is not a Chief of Staff position. The Director does not substitute for Cabinet leadership, own institutional strategy, or exercise presidential authority unless expressly delegated. Rather, the Director ensures that presidential priorities, decisions, relationships, and commitments are prepared, coordinated, visible, and executed reliably while respecting the authority of Cabinet leaders and other institutional owners. The successful candidate will be a seasoned executive professional who is equally comfortable preparing a sensitive Board briefing, negotiating competing demands on the President's calendar, coordinating complex travel, drafting executive correspondence, following up with a Cabinet member, troubleshooting an event, and redesigning a recurring process so the same problem does not happen twice. This is a full-time, exempt, in-office and highly visible campus role requiring occasional evening and weekend availability for Board meetings, presidential events, travel, and other mission-critical institutional activities.

Requirements

Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience supporting a president, CEO, chancellor, provost, foundation executive, senior government official, or comparable senior leader in a complex organization.
Demonstrated success simultaneously managing sophisticated executive logistics and exercising significant independent judgment.
Experience working with a governing board and managing sensitive governance materials, senior-level communications, and confidential information.
Exceptional organizational skills and demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, stakeholders, and rapidly changing circumstances simultaneously.
Outstanding judgment, discretion, maturity, and political and institutional awareness.
Demonstrated ability to anticipate executive needs and act proactively rather than waiting for direction.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while knowing when consultation or escalation is required.
Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to accuracy, quality, and sustained follow-through.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated ability to synthesize complex information and draft executive-level correspondence and briefing materials.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop trusted relationships with trustees, senior executives, faculty, staff, students, donors, Sisters, government officials, community leaders, and external partners.
Ability to communicate bad news, push back appropriately, say no diplomatically, and respectfully challenge assumptions when doing so serves the President or institution.
Ability to remain calm, organized, responsive, and effective in a high-energy environment characterized by substantial activity, shifting priorities, compressed timelines, and high expectations.
Strong project coordination and systems-thinking capabilities, with an instinct for improving processes rather than repeatedly managing the same failure.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and contemporary executive productivity tools.
Demonstrated fluency with or strong capacity to learn and responsibly employ AI tools in executive-office workflows.
Bachelor's degree required

Nice To Haves

Experience working in higher education, nonprofit leadership, healthcare, philanthropy, government, or another complex mission-driven environment strongly preferred.
Significant experience supporting a university president, chancellor, provost, CEO, or similarly senior executive.
Demonstrated experience coordinating the operating interface between senior leaders while maintaining clear reporting, priority, decision, and accountability relationships.
Experience in higher education and familiarity with the rhythms, governance structures, stakeholder groups, and culture of a university environment.
Experience coordinating Board of Trustees or other governing-board operations.
Experience managing complex domestic and international executive travel.
Experience preparing executive briefing materials and senior-level correspondence.
Familiarity with advancement, government relations, strategic planning, external partnerships, or executive communications.
Demonstrated experience using technology and AI to improve executive-office efficiency and quality.
Commitment to and understanding of the mission, values, and strategic direction of the University of Mount Saint Vincent.
Advanced degree welcome but not required.

Responsibilities

Own and strategically manage the President's complex calendar, applying sound judgment to prioritize meetings, relationships, commitments, preparation time, travel, and institutional priorities.
Serve as a strategic gatekeeper for presidential time, appropriately accepting, declining, redirecting, sequencing, and negotiating routine requests within established parameters.
Anticipate calendar conflicts, preparation needs, travel considerations, stakeholder sensitivities, and downstream consequences before they become problems.
Coordinate domestic and international travel, including transportation, accommodations, ground logistics, itineraries, meeting materials, contingency planning, and post-travel follow-through.
Maintain an integrated rolling view of the President's commitments, travel, major institutional events, Board activities, external engagements, and strategic priorities.
Strategically coordinate agreed scheduling, meetings, travel, and executive logistics for the Vice President for Strategy to protect time for strategic planning, executive preparation, external partnerships, presidential priorities, Board matters, and major institutional initiatives, particularly where his work intersects with the President, Cabinet, or other institutional leaders.
Coordinate presidential meetings, events, visitors, and engagements, including room arrangements, catering, technology, materials, protocol, arrival and departure logistics, and contingency plans.
Manage routine administrative functions of the Office of the President, including office budget tracking, purchasing and expense processes, records, supplies, technology needs, and other operational requirements.
Maintain a professional, welcoming, discreet, and highly responsive environment for trustees, Sisters, students, faculty, staff, donors, government officials, community partners, and other visitors to the Office of the President.
Own the operational integration between the President and Vice President for Strategy, ensuring shared priorities, strategic sequencing, executive decision-making, calendar choreography, strategic convenings, and institutional execution remain synchronized.
Maintain an integrated operating view of selected strategic initiatives jointly sponsored by the President and Vice President for Strategy, including owners, decisions, milestones, dependencies, commitments, risks, deadlines, and next executive checkpoints, without assuming ownership of institutional strategy or substituting for Cabinet leadership.
Translate presidential direction into clear next steps by identifying what has been decided, what remains exploratory, who owns the next action, what information is required, and when the matter returns for review.
Maintain visibility into presidential priorities, decisions, commitments, and significant open matters to ensure important work does not depend upon the President's memory or personal follow-through.
Monitor action items and commitments emerging from presidential, Cabinet, Board, and executive meetings and ensure appropriate owners and deadlines are clear.
Identify stalled work, missing information, conflicting priorities, and unresolved dependencies and elevate them at the appropriate time.
Exercise independent judgment about what can be resolved without presidential involvement and what requires escalation.
Communicate difficult information, emerging risk, missed commitments, or potential problems promptly and candidly; the position operates under a strong no-surprises expectation.
Help distinguish genuinely urgent matters from activity that merely feels urgent, allowing the President and Vice President for Strategy to maintain a high but sustainable operating pace.
Design, maintain, and regularly test documented operating procedures, workflows, checklists, templates, continuity plans, and backup protocols for every recurring and essential Office of the President process - including Board cycles, executive briefings, travel, meetings, decision tracking, relationship follow-through, and office operations - so recurring problems are solved and continuity does not depend on one individual.
Coordinate the operational work associated with the University's Board of Trustees in partnership with the President, Board leadership, and appropriate institutional officers.
Maintain the Board calendar and coordinate meeting schedules, materials, communications, technology, hospitality, attendance, and related logistics.
Establish and monitor timelines for Board and committee materials and proactively follow up with responsible contributors to ensure deadlines and standards are met.
Prepare the President for Board and committee meetings through concise briefing materials, trustee context, anticipated questions, decision requirements, and logistical preparation.
Maintain accurate and confidential trustee records, directories, committee information, meeting records, and related governance materials consistent with University policies and bylaws.
Coordinate secure distribution of Board materials and ensure appropriate confidentiality and records practices.
Track Board decisions, requests, and commitments and coordinate timely institutional follow-through.
Exercise exceptional discretion when managing governance matters, executive-session materials, trustee concerns, and other sensitive information.
Prepare concise, decision-ready briefing materials for presidential meetings, Board engagements, donor conversations, government meetings, external partnerships, speaking engagements, travel, and other consequential activities.
Draft, edit, and prepare executive correspondence, including emails, letters, memoranda, reports, acknowledgements, presentations, talking points, and other materials.
Learn and consistently reflect the President's communication style and voice while maintaining accuracy, clarity, professionalism, warmth, and appropriate institutional context.
Gather information from across the University and external sources, synthesize complex material, verify key facts, and determine what the President actually needs to know.
Ensure that significant meetings and engagements have a defined purpose, desired outcome, appropriate preparation, and clear follow-up.
Coordinate executive communications workflows with Communications, Advancement and External Relations, Government Relations, Academic Affairs, and other offices as appropriate.
Maintain appropriate standards and approval protocols for correspondence sent on behalf of the President.
Support the President's relationships with trustees, Sisters, donors and prospects, alumni, government and civic leaders, strategic partners, students, faculty, staff, higher education colleagues, and other important stakeholders.
Maintain appropriate information regarding priority relationships, previous engagements, open commitments, sensitivities, institutional ownership, and next steps.
Prepare the President for consequential interactions by providing relevant history, context, interests, affiliations, relationship considerations, and desired outcomes.
Coordinate closely with Advancement and External Relations, Government Relations, Communications, Cabinet members, and other relationship owners to avoid duplication and ensure continuity.
Track presidential promises and commitments and ensure every significant commitment has an owner, deadline, and documented follow-through.
Anticipate opportunities for presidential outreach, acknowledgement, recognition, stewardship, or relationship repair.
Use technology and approved AI tools thoughtfully to increase the efficiency, quality, and responsiveness of the Office of the President.
Develop and improve AI-assisted workflows for appropriate activities such as executive briefing preparation, public-source research, meeting summaries, environmental scanning, correspondence development, travel preparation, and workflow management.
Apply rigorous human judgment to all technology-assisted work, including verification of facts, confidentiality, tone, institutional context, and appropriateness.
Maintain strong awareness of emerging technology and productivity tools that may improve executive operations.
Curate relevant information and emerging developments for the President and Vice President for Strategy rather than simply forwarding information.
Identify recurring manual processes that can be simplified, standardized, automated, or eliminated while maintaining appropriate controls.