Executive Assistant to the President - Office of the President

Southeast Missouri State University • Cape Girardeau, MO

32d

About The Position

The Executive Assistant to the President provides high-level, confidential operational and administrative support to the Office of the President. This position exercises independent judgment in performing a broad range of responsibilities and has recurring contact with members of the University's Executive Staff, senior administrators, academic leaders, Board of Governors, public and private officials, the media, students, and parents. This salaried position reports to the Chief of Staff and General Counsel.

Requirements

• High Diploma or GED; Bachelor's degree is a plus
• Significant executive support experience, including supporting C-level executives. Non-profit board experience is a plus
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced executive environment demonstrating a high degree of professionalism in dealing with diverse groups of people, including board members, senior executives, donors, elected officials, and community and governance group leaders
• Expert proficiency with Microsoft Office and desktop publishing software; ability to design and edit graphic presentations and materials
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Exceptional organizational skills and impeccable attention to detail
• Ability to make appropriate, informed decisions regarding priorities, resources, and issues
• Ability to complete a high volume of tasks and projects with little or no guidance
• Ability to switch gears/direction at a moment's notice and react with appropriate levels of urgency to situations and events
• Maintain an extremely high level of integrity and discretion in handling confidential interactions, documents, and information
• Ability to be responsive to emails, texts, and phone calls with regular contact outside normal business hours

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree is a plus
• Non-profit board experience is a plus

Responsibilities

• Provides sophisticated calendar management to the Office of the President, prioritizing inquiries and requests while troubleshooting conflicts. Exercises independent judgement to ensure smooth day-to-day logistics and engagement. Works closely with the president to keep him/her well informed and prepared for upcoming appearances, meetings, speaking engagements, and activities. Maximizes the president's time to meet personal, board, and institutional goals. Maintains a keen eye for details regarding travel, meeting location(s), agenda, participants, attire, set up, logistics, and supporting documents/materials is essential.
• Provides proactive email management. Maintains consistent, ongoing scrutiny and maintenance of the president's university email account. Exercises independent judgement in responding to, deleting, forwarding, reassigning, sharing, and following up on issues raised via email. Keeps the president up to date on emails that require his/her immediate personal attention. Maintains an archival system of key emails to ensure future availability upon request.
• Provides high-level administrative support, assisting with special projects, exercising independent judgement on how to proceed to accomplish outcomes; manage sensitive matters and documents with a high level of confidentiality and discretion; design and produce complex documents, reports, and presentations; collect and prepare information for meetings, including populating the online portal for Board of Governors meetings; plan meetings such as the Board of Governors, taking sole responsibility for activities such as room reservation, set up, food/beverage, guest speakers, audio visual, and other related elements of the meeting; compose and prepare correspondence; answer the main phone line and convey messages as appropriate; process and delivery daily mail; maintain office supplies and gifts; keep contact lists current and readily available; make travel arrangements; and complete expense and mileage reports.
• Serves as the key front-facing representative of the Office of the President, providing for smooth communication and engagement between the university president and internal and external constituents. Serve as the primary gatekeeper for visitors, phone calls, and documents arriving in the president's office. Provide hospitality to all guests while maintaining credibility, trust and support among key internal and external constituents.
• Safeguards the confidentiality of University administration by exercising discretion in communicating information to faculty, students, staff and the various publics served by the University and in handling administrative records, file, and similar confidential items.
• Completes other tasks, assignments, projects, or activities as assigned by the president or chief of staff for the overall benefit of the Board of Governors, Office of the President, institution, and presidency.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Industry: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support
• Education Level: High school or GED
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees