Director, Presidential Operations

IEEE•Piscataway, NJ

14h

About The Position

The Director, Presidential Operations is responsible for leading and integrating the operational support structure for the IEEE Office of the President, ensuring seamless coordination, execution, and continuity across the presidential cycle, including the Past President, President, and President-Elect (the "3Ps"). Reporting to the Chief of Staff, this role serves as the senior operational leader for presidential support, overseeing the execution of presidential priorities, engagements, governance activities, and communications in close partnership with senior leadership. The Director manages and aligns a small team, including executive administration and strategic communications, to ensure that presidential leadership is supported through a cohesive, disciplined, and high-functioning operating model. This role does not set strategy or policy. Its value lies in orchestrating execution, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring continuity, rigor, and follow-through across presidential terms. Core Purpose To ensure that presidential leadership operates effectively through a coordinated, high-quality operational model that supports priorities, governance, and external engagement in alignment with IEEE's enterprise strategy.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
10+ years of experience in executive operations, governance, program leadership, or senior leader enablement.
Demonstrated experience supporting C-suite executives, Boards, or volunteer leadership in complex organizations.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and coordinate work without direct authority.
Strong operational leadership, planning, and organizational skills.
Excellent judgment, discretion, and stakeholder management capability.
Exceptional communication and coordination skills.

Nice To Haves

Master's or other advanced degree
Experience in governance, committee operations, or enterprise organizations preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead and manage the Presidential Operations function, including oversight of Sr Executive Program Specialist & Executive Communications Senior Manager
Establish clear roles, workflows, and coordination mechanisms across the team.
Ensure seamless integration of scheduling, travel, communications, governance, and priority execution.
Drive consistency and continuity across presidential terms.
Ensure coordinated support across the Past President, President, President-Elect, and President-Elect-Elect.
Maintain continuity of priorities, engagements, and institutional knowledge across transitions.
Align operational support to enable both current leadership execution and future leadership readiness.
Oversee planning, tracking, and execution of presidential priorities and initiatives.
Translate presidential direction into coordinated workplans in partnership with Strategy and other organizational units.
Maintain visibility into commitments, risks, and dependencies; ensure accountability and follow-through.
Partner with the Strategy team, Brand & Marketing Communications, and the Conferences, Events & Experiences team to annually plan and prioritize presidential engagements and events.
Ensure a balanced and intentional mix of internal (IEEE member, governance, and volunteer) and external (industry, academic, policy, and partner) engagements aligned to enterprise priorities.
Develop and implement a structured approach to “wrapped” presidential engagements, designing trips and events to include both IEEE-facing activities and external partnership opportunities.
Align engagement planning with presidential priorities, enterprise strategy, and regional or sector opportunities to maximize impact and visibility.
Establish forward-looking planning cycles, calendars, and coordination mechanisms to reduce reactive scheduling and improve strategic coherence.
Provide oversight of presidential travel, engagements, and external activities.
Ensure engagements are strategically aligned, well-prepared, and effectively executed.
Establish systems to capture insights, commitments, and follow-up actions from engagements.
Travel with the President to select high-priority domestic and international engagements to provide on-the-ground coordination and strategic capture of key takeaways, themes, relationships, and commitments. Translate insights into structured outputs and maintain a centralized CRM-style tracking system to ensure continuity, follow-up, and integration into enterprise strategy, governance, and engagement planning.
Oversee operational support for presidential committees, task forces, and governance-related activities.
Ensure clear objectives, structured workflows, and effective outputs from committees.
Coordinate closely with Governance and Strategy functions to ensure alignment and clarity of roles.
Provide leadership oversight for Board meeting series, presidential retreats, and key convenings.
Ensure meetings are designed to support decision-making, alignment, and progress against priorities.
Serve as the central integrator across organizational units supporting presidential work.
Manage sequencing, dependencies, and handoffs across teams.
Ensure alignment between presidential priorities, enterprise strategy, and operational capacity.
Oversee development and delivery of presidential communications in partnership with the Senior Manager, Executive & Strategic Communications.
Ensure messaging is aligned with priorities, governance context, and enterprise positioning.