Vice President, People & Organizational Effectiveness

Children’s Place Association•Chicago, IL

7h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President, People & Organizational Effectiveness will serve as the President & CEO's principal partner in building the people, leadership, culture, structure, and accountability systems required to deliver CPA's Forward to 40 strategy and beyond. This is not a traditional human resources role. The Vice President will lead a high-performing, compliant, and service-oriented people function while also strengthening organizational effectiveness across the enterprise. The role is accountable for ensuring CPA is not only staffed with exceptional talent, but also organized, led, and equipped to execute with greater clarity, discipline, adaptability, and shared accountability. The goal is to build a resilient, accountable organization capable of executing CPA's strategy and scaling sustainably.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in human resources, organizational development, business, public administration, psychology, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
At least 10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience across human resources, organizational development, people strategy, or organizational effectiveness, including at least five years at a senior or executive level.
Demonstrated command of employee relations, employment law, compensation, benefits, performance management, workforce planning, HR operations, and organizational risk.
Proven success leading organizational change, redesign, leadership development, culture, or enterprise performance initiatives.
Experience advising a CEO and executive team on complex, high-stakes organizational and people decisions.
Demonstrated ability to facilitate senior teams, structure ambiguous problems, establish performance frameworks, and convert strategy into coordinated action.
Strong business and financial acumen, including the ability to connect workforce decisions to operating realities and mission outcomes.
Exceptional judgment, discretion, written and verbal communication, and executive presence.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in organizational development, human resources, business administration, public administration, or a related discipline.
SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable senior-level professional certification.
Experience in nonprofit human services, behavioral health, education, or another highly regulated, mission-driven environment.
Experience supporting a multi-site, diverse, and operationally complex workforce.
Experience with labor relations, HRIS implementation or optimization, executive compensation, Board reporting, and strategic planning.

Responsibilities

Lead the full human resources portfolio, including talent acquisition, employee relations, labor relations, compensation, benefits, payroll oversight, performance management, HR systems, compliance, policy, and employee lifecycle operations.
Develop and execute an integrated people strategy aligned with CPA's mission, strategic priorities, financial realities, and anticipated growth.
Ensure consistent, equitable, and legally sound employment practices across programs, locations, and employee groups.
Provide high-quality counsel to the CEO, executives, and managers on complex people, performance, culture, and employment matters.
Strengthen HR service delivery, operating procedures, data integrity, technology, and responsiveness.
Assess organizational health and recommend improvements to structure, role clarity, decision rights, spans of control, workflows, and cross-functional coordination.
Partner with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to design an operating model capable of supporting CPA's evolving scale and complexity.
Lead organizational change initiatives, including change strategy, stakeholder engagement, implementation planning, adoption, and reinforcement.
Identify systemic barriers to execution and lead practical interventions that strengthen accountability, collaboration, speed, and organizational learning.
Build repeatable organizational practices that allow CPA to adapt without relying on perpetual crisis management.
Build an integrated leadership development framework for executives, directors, managers, and emerging leaders.
Coach leaders to manage performance, lead change, navigate conflict, develop talent, and operate with an enterprise mindset.
Facilitate executive and leadership team retreats, planning sessions, and organizational alignment processes.
Create succession and talent review processes that strengthen leadership continuity and internal mobility.
Serve as an executive steward of a culture grounded in dignity, trust, accountability, inclusion, learning, and mission-centered performance.
Partner with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to establish organization-wide KPIs, operating cadences, and performance review practices.
Translate strategic priorities into clear organizational expectations, leadership accountabilities, and people implications.
Monitor workforce health, organizational performance, leadership effectiveness, and strategic execution through actionable dashboards and analysis.
Support annual enterprise planning and, over time, begin framing and facilitating development of CPA's next strategic plan.
Lead selected cross-functional initiatives designated by the CEO and represent the CEO in internal leadership settings when delegated.
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws, regulatory requirements, accreditation standards, and internal policies.
Partner with legal counsel, insurance partners, auditors, and other advisors on employment risk and organizational matters.
Provide the CEO and Board with clear reporting on workforce trends, organizational health, succession, executive compensation, and material people risks.
Balance employee advocacy, organizational stewardship, legal compliance, and mission delivery with sound executive judgment.
Stabilize HR operations and ensure reliable delivery of payroll, benefits, employee relations, recruitment, compliance, and core people processes.
Complete an organizational effectiveness assessment and present a sequenced improvement roadmap to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team.
Establish an enterprise KPI framework and recurring organizational performance cadence.
Clarify leadership expectations, decision rights, and accountability across the executive and director levels.
Launch a leadership development framework, incorporating the existing CPAmbassadors group.
Strengthen succession, workforce planning, and talent review practices.
Build trust in the people function through consistency, discretion, transparency, and timely follow-through.