Early Childhood Intermediary | Executive Director

Denise Smith Consulting • Houston, TX

23d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Executive Director will provide the visionary leadership, management, and planning needed to launch and lead the Early Childhood Intermediary in Greater Houston. The organization is a community-led, neutral backbone intended to coordinate early childhood systems work from birth to age five, bringing organizations together to improve school readiness and advance a shared regional goal. It will be housed at the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), which will initially serve as fiscal sponsor and employer of record, providing benefits and back-office infrastructure. The Executive Director reports directly to the Intermediary’s Steering Committee.

Based in Houston, Texas, the Executive Director will lead a lean start-up team and manage an initial annual budget expected to be approximately $2 million. The role is highly relational and externally facing, convening stakeholders across philanthropy, government, early childhood, schools, workforce partners, community organizations, business, and families. The leader will help define shared goals and measures, build infrastructure to track progress, and turn stakeholder alignment into initiatives, policy coordination, and sustained investment. An initial priority is to work with Early Matters Texas to establish and build out a local affiliate program linked to its statewide network and policy platform.

The role includes launching and managing the organization, supporting the Steering Committee, setting regional strategy, convening partners, developing shared measurement and learning processes, supporting family navigation, launching partner-driven initiatives, leading communications and external relations, cultivating and stewarding funding, participating in Early Matters Texas network and policy work, and overseeing finances and operations in partnership with GHP. Over time, the Executive Director will explore long-term governance and operating structures, including continued fiscal sponsorship or a possible transition to an independent entity.

The position is based in Houston and has a hybrid schedule with up to two remote days per week. The candidate must be willing to relocate if applying from outside Houston. A bachelor’s degree and 10 or more years of leadership experience are specified. Applications are accepted through November 6, 2026.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 10 years of leadership experience.
• Commitment to improving outcomes for young children and families and understanding of how early childhood systems connect to long-term economic mobility.
• Proven ability to lead in ambiguous start-up contexts, set direction, make timely decisions, and follow through.
• Credibility and authority to engage senior stakeholders and move groups from discussion to decisions.
• Strong relationship-building and strategic convening skills across constituencies with differing perspectives and interests.
• Inclusive, transparent decision-making; ability to make priorities and tradeoffs without bias toward or against stakeholder groups and to advocate independently for community needs.
• Comfort using metrics, evidence, and shared measurement to shape strategy and define success without allowing data collection to slow action.
• Fundraising experience with philanthropic partners, including cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding foundation relationships and supporting multi-year sustainability planning.
• Exceptional communication and public-speaking abilities, strong writing skills, and ability to translate complex issues and data for diverse audiences.
• Experience providing executive oversight of financial management and aligning resource use with strategic priorities.
• Demonstrated experience managing people, systems, and processes and the operational discipline to build a new organization.
• Understanding of early childhood systems and policy, or demonstrated ability to learn them quickly and deeply.
• Knowledge of the Greater Houston region or ability to quickly build trust and credibility with its early childhood ecosystem.
• Willingness to relocate to Houston if applying from outside the region.
• Experience working with business and civic leaders to build cross-sector credibility and engage business as a champion for early childhood.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading collective-impact or cross-sector initiatives is highly valued.
• Knowledge of the Texas policy and funding landscape is a plus.
• Private-sector experience is ideal.

Responsibilities

• Support the launch of the organization, including hiring and managing a results-driven team, establishing its culture, and executing initial operating workplans.
• Set annual priorities and resource plans that translate strategy into execution, adjusting as the work and community input evolve.
• Provide leadership and staff support to the Steering Committee, including agendas, facilitation, decision processes, and follow-through.
• Work with the Steering Committee to consolidate knowledge of regional early childhood efforts and develop a focused birth-to-five regional strategy across childcare, Pre-K, and the early childhood workforce, with a long-term view toward kindergarten transitions.
• Convene cross-sector stakeholders inclusively to build alignment, reduce duplication, and advance shared outcomes while complementing existing organizations.
• Design and manage coalition workgroups, meeting cadence, decision protocols, and feedback loops.
• Establish and lead a Business Advisory Council and build relationships with business leaders to advance early childhood goals and elevate the issue as an economic and workforce priority.
• Advance a shared regional north-star goal and practical leading indicators, including kindergarten readiness and other key measures.
• Oversee development of a regional dashboard using existing data systems and platforms where possible, including data-sharing relationships, reporting cycles, and continuous-improvement practices.
• Establish learning and evaluation processes to assess progress, communicate transparently, and guide improvements to strategy and investment.
• Support development of family navigation tools and partnerships that help families find and access childcare and early learning options, attending to usability, language access, and equity.
• Move from planning to implementation by launching partner-driven initiatives aligned with regional strategy, especially initiatives requiring shared infrastructure and coordination.
• Launch the Intermediary publicly and lead a communications and engagement strategy that builds public will, reinforces neutrality, and strengthens partner alignment.
• Represent the Initiative externally and build trusted relationships across philanthropy, public agencies, providers, and community leaders.
• Liaise with the Early Childhood Funders Group to support operating capacity, including exploring pooled funding and regranting approaches as the model matures.
• Cultivate private philanthropy, corporate, and public-sector funding connections to expand and diversify the funding base.
• Manage and steward multiple funding streams with alignment, transparency, and effective deployment of resources.
• Serve as Greater Houston’s affiliate liaison to Early Matters Texas, build a working relationship with network leadership, and participate in shared learning and policy and advocacy coordination.
• Represent Greater Houston in state and regional policy conversations and coordinate advocacy with Early Matters Texas and GHP’s public policy team.
• Oversee annual budgets and financial reporting with GHP as fiscal sponsor, ensuring stewardship, compliance, and operational excellence.
• Explore long-term governance and operating structures, including continued fiscal sponsorship or a potential transition to an independent entity.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Generous paid time off accruing from the first day of employment
• 12 paid holidays and a holiday break (closed Christmas Eve through January 1)
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with a 2% non-elective contribution and 100% match of employee contributions up to the first 4%

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive