Position Specification Executive Director of Principal Giving

CONFIDENTIAL

This Position Specification is intended to provide information about the Williams College and the position of Executive Director of Principal Giving. It is designed to assist qualified individuals in assessing their interest in this position.

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The Opportunity

Williams College invites nominations and applications for the position of Executive Director of Principal Giving. Reporting to Williams’ Vice President for College Relations, the Executive Director is the lead relationship manager for Williams’ most highly rated prospects and is a key member of the management team that sets strategic direction for the College Relations division. Williams seeks a seasoned development executive with

a track record of engaging, soliciting, and stewarding seven- and eight-figure donors to envision and implement a programmatic approach to principal giving at the College. The Executive Director will collaborate closely with the President, the Vice President, Senior Development Officers, and members of the Board of Trustees. Candidates will have ten or more years of experience in the advancement field, and must be thoroughly comfortable working closely with a diverse and geographically dispersed pool of high-net-worth individuals and families. The Executive Director will have a deep understanding of and passion for the mission and goals of an outstanding liberal arts college. Candidates should approach working with donors in a style that demonstrates ambition and innovation, while embracing collaboration and collective achievement. A bachelor’s degree is required and an advanced degree is desirable. The Executive Director will travel extensively, across the U.S. and abroad. Founded in 1793, Williams College is a coeducational liberal arts institution located in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts with access to the culturally rich cities of Albany, Boston, and New York City. The College is committed to building and supporting a diverse population of approximately 2,000 students, and to fostering an inclusive faculty, staff, and curriculum. Williams has built its reputation on outstanding teaching and scholarship, and on the academic excellence of its students. Williams has an operating budget of $197 million, 2,100 students, 334 faculty, more than 700 staff, and an endowment of $1.9 billion. The College is known internationally for the quality of its students, the dedication of its faculty and staff, and the exceptional loyalty of its alumni. For more information on Williams College, please visit: http://www.williams.edu/. Recruitment will continue until the position is filled. Information about how to nominate someone or to apply for this opportunity may be found near the end of this document in the section entitled “Procedure for Candidacy.”

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College Relations at Williams College Established on September 5, 1821, The Society of Alumni of Williams College is the oldest continuing alumni organization in North America. It now has 28,702 members (including 429 from the Graduate Art and 1,080 from the Development Economics programs). The Society’s Executive Committee serves as its governing board and as an advisory body to the Alumni Relations office. The twenty member committee is composed of exemplary alumni leaders from classes, regions, and networks from around the world. One of their primary duties is communicating the opinions and interest of alumni to the College and sharing the College’s priorities and directions with alumni. The College Relations staff currently constitutes 80 professionals organized under 11 Directors: Advancement Information Systems, Alumni Relations, Annual Giving, Career Center, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Development, Donor Relations, Gift Planning, Major Gifts, Milestone Reunion Programs, and Research and Prospect Management. In FY 13, the Office’s budget was just over $8 million. The year’s gift and pledge support totaled $51 million; receipts were $40 million. Sixty-one percent of solicitable alumni made a gift. The College’s annual alumni giving percentage is perennially first or second in the nation, thanks in large part to its more than 1,600 volunteer class agents. Williams manages in excess of $100 million in life-income gift assets.

In 2003, the College embarked on a $400 million comprehensive campaign to support curricular initiatives, expand the faculty, enhance student life, boost financial aid, and support three major building projects. Seventy-six percent of all alumni made at least one gift to the campaign, which reached $500 million by its close on December 31, 2008. Williams is now in the quiet phase of its next comprehensive campaign. Priorities will include substantially expanding financial aid endowment, deepening resources committed to academics and student

support, funding a select group of program-driven facilities projects, and endowing the graduate program in art history. The College anticipates that this campaign will be the most ambitious in its history.

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The Role of the Executive Director of Principal Giving Reporting to Williams’ Vice President for College Relations, John Malcolm, the Executive Director of Principal Giving will be the key relationship manager for Williams’ most highly rated prospects while providing strategic leadership for overall development planning and operations. The Executive Director will serve as a member of the Vice President’s senior team, collaborating closely with the President, the Vice President, Senior Development Officers, and members of the Board of Trustees, and play a central role in leading the entire program to an unprecedented level of success. He or she will develop and implement a sophisticated and programmatic principal giving operation. The Executive Director will build on the excellent work done to date by development officers and major gift officers and serve as the chief strategist on all principal gifts, acting as a coach, mentor, and strategist in advancing philanthropic success. He or she will be expected to cultivate, solicit, and steward Williams’ highest capacity donors, maximizing the relationships with prospective donors who have the ability to give gifts of $5 million or more. The Executive Director will be an engaged community member who will secure financial commitments to Williams by effectively connecting constituents with the life and mission of the College. As Williams prepares for the most ambitious campaign in the College’s history, the Executive Director must be able to develop and translate strategy into plans and operations that enable increased support at the top levels of the giving pyramid. A robust principal giving program will be critical to the success of the campaign, and the Executive Director will be a major contributor to the implementation and execution of this significant effort. This is a significant opportunity to serve as the Executive Director of Principal Giving at one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges. Partnering closely with an outstanding team and passionate and engaged alumni, the Executive Director will be a major leader of and contributor to the creation, development, and execution of a dynamic philanthropic vision that will contribute to the continued success of this outstanding institution. In addition, the Executive Director will:

• Serve as a reputable and trust-worthy representative on behalf of Williams College and ensure the College’s highest capacity donors receive a positive and personally satisfying donor experience;

• Coordinate and consult with other development officers and staff to ensure the highest rated prospects are being cultivated and solicited effectively;

• Serve as a resource to staff on matters of prospect strategy and offer new approaches and techniques; keep current with evolving trends in philanthropy;

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• Establish appropriate metrics to assess individual and team performance;

• Promote and integrate principal giving goals and strategies into overall philanthropic goals;

• Personally manage a portfolio of up to 80 high-level prospects;

• Work collaboratively with all College Relations colleagues to promote a team environment and ensure the success of all programs;

• Plan and host campus visits for major prospects as a key step in their preparation for principal giving solicitations and/or stewardship of previous commitments; and

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Opportunities and Expectations for Leadership With an upcoming campaign, a dedicated community of alumni, trustees and friends, and an optimistic and energized vision for the College’s future, this is an exceptional time to join Williams College. The Executive Director will be a creative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative leader who can capitalize on institutional momentum to broaden and strengthen Williams’ principal giving program. A primary indicator of success will be the establishment and nurturing of relationships that lead to new levels of philanthropic investment by principal donors.

The Executive Director of Principal Giving should be prepared to pursue the following interrelated opportunities during his or her first few years in office: Develop strong and productive relationships in support of Williams’ philanthropic goals: The Executive Director will serve as a leader, team builder, and mentor in a complex organizational setting and will reach out internally and externally to inspire the entire organization to support the College’s philanthropic goals. Working in close partnership with key constituents, including the President, the Vice President for College Relations, Senior Development Officers, and members of the Board of Trustees, the Executive Director will engage an eager and willing community in principal giving efforts. He or she will be expected to travel throughout the United States and abroad, representing Williams and cultivating meaningful relationships with the College’s top donors and prospects. The Director will leverage the loyalty, commitment, and resources of the Board of Trustees and

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other key supporters in order to identify and cultivate individuals who can become participants in the life of the College and provide financial support at principal giving levels. In order to galvanize the community around this important endeavor, she or he will assure effective support of the Board of Trustees, and other key alumni volunteer leaders in the execution of their highly valued efforts. Broaden support for principal giving: Williams is seeking a highly talented leader who can articulate and implement a cohesive, clear and forward-thinking strategic plan for principal giving. The Executive Director will bring together the extended development team (including staff and volunteers) within a paradigm that will optimize their efforts regarding principal gifts, while providing mentorship and support for their efforts. The Executive Director will be be a true collaborator, creating strong relationships with the senior development team and major gifts officers. Establishment of best practices will be critical to the program’s success. The Executive Director will be and/or become familiar with the principal gifts operations of the nation’s most successful development programs and will implement the most important principles of those programs in his or her work for Williams College. Build a personal fundraising portfolio: Serving as relationship facilitator for a significant portfolio comprising the College’s top prospects will be a priority for the Executive Director. This work will entail substantial direct contact with donors as well as strategic and tactical support of the President, Vice President and key volunteers. Help execute a comprehensive campaign: It is anticipated that Williams will launch the public phase of its largest campaign to date in 2016. In preparation, the Executive Director will assess the needs of the development department in relation to principal gifts. He or she will partner with key stakeholders to develop a clear campaign strategy; develop and articulate measurable and achievable goals; and further build the systems and organization required to achieve success. As the campaign launches, the Director will be a key fundraiser, identifying and soliciting major donors and engaging the wider community in this important effort. Personal Qualifications and Personal Qualities The Executive Director of Principal Giving will be a seasoned development executive with a successful track record of engaging, soliciting and stewarding seven- and eight-figure donors. He or she will be a strong collaborator capable of building relationships across all areas of the College and particularly with the President, the Vice President for College Relations, Senior Development Officers, and members of the Board of Trustees. The Executive Director will be a strong representative for Williams with a personal presence that is mature,

polished, and

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professional. He or she will be articulate, entrepreneurial, creative, and hardworking with a demonstrated ability to develop collegiate relationships with a diverse and geographically dispersed pool of high-net-worth individuals. The Executive Director will have a deep understanding of and passion for the mission and goals of an outstanding liberal arts college with an ability to articulate these values in a compelling way to prospective donors, embracing the history and traditions of the College while helping it move forward to an even brighter future. The successful candidate will have ten or more years of experience in the advancement field. A bachelor’s degree is required and an advanced degree is desirable. The Executive Director will travel extensively, across the U.S. and abroad, on behalf of the College. In addition, candidates should demonstrate:

• Institutional leadership: readiness to play a leadership role on the College’s senior development team; ability to act as a strategic thinker and expert in the development arena, and preference for working collaboratively in service to strengthening the institution; proven ability to work across a complex organization;

• Proven development experience: strong record of fundraising success and management of fundraising efforts; solid understanding of best practices nationally, particularly at the principal gifts level; demonstrated ability to plan, execute and successfully close significant principal gifts; experience in leading, or being a part of, a major campaign aimed at securing transformational gifts; demonstrated experience working with senior administrators, trustees, and top volunteers;

• Strategic planning ability: significant and successful strategic planning experience;

demonstrated ability to organize a successful development program supported by a talented team of development professionals across an organization;

• Personal qualities: the full complement of leadership attributes including judgment, political savvy, personal and professional integrity, diplomacy, warmth, intelligence, courage of convictions, tolerance for ambiguity and a sense of humor; a holistic, donor-centered approach to development that values every aspect of the effort; and strong affinity for and a desire to engage with the Williams community in support of development efforts and goals.

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Williams College: An Overview The College Williams was founded in 1793 as the second college in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While many colleges over the years chose to become universities, Williams has resolutely focused on striving to provide the finest possible liberal arts education. It is now known internationally for the quality of its students, the dedication of its faculty and staff, and the exceptional loyalty of its alumni. To take advantage of particular strengths in its curriculum and in the neighboring region, the College offers two master’s degree programs. One, offered jointly with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, is in the history of art. The other offers young professionals from developing economies a degree in policy economics. The College maintains two well-established off-campus programs. The Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford University each year enables two dozen Williams’ students to participate fully in the academic and extracurricular life of one of the world’s great universities. The Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program, at Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport, offers students from a number of colleges an interdisciplinary way to study and experience the sea. Students and Faculty

Recruited and chosen through a highly selective admission process, the College’s 2,100 students come from around the world and a wide variety of backgrounds. Half of them qualify for Williams-based financial aid. About 15 percent of the first-year class will be in the first generation of their families to graduate from college. One-third identify themselves as U.S. students of color. 9 percent do not hold a U.S. passport. Williams admits domestic students without

regard for their ability to pay and promises to fully meet the demonstrated financial need of each admitted student for four years. Recommended loans, for middle income students receiving financial aid, are capped at $4,000 per year. Average total graduating student debt was $12,800 in 2012. The College spends approximately $85,000 per year per student; tuition and fees for “full pay” students – 48 percent of the student body – are nearly $57,000; the College, with financial aid accounted for, receives approximately $32,000 per student.

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Philanthropy, in the form of annual gifts from alumni and parents and aggregated in the College’s $1.9 billion endowment, is essential to closing the gap between expenditures and student-generated revenues. The process of appointing Williams faculty is also highly selective. The College’s 334 faculty have generally been at the top of their Ph.D. programs. They come to Williams with a passion to teach and to work closely with students as mentors – made possible by a student-faculty ratio of 7 to 1. The President Since becoming the 17th president of Williams in April 2010, Adam Falk has focused on advancing the college's mission of providing the finest possible liberal arts education by working with faculty to strengthen the curriculum, further enrich student residential life, and maximize the educational value derived from the growing diversity of the College's students, faculty, and staff. He has overseen a wide reorganization of the College administration and led the successful effort to raise the funds needed to resume the $82 million Sawyer Library Project, which will transform teaching and learning in the humanities and social sciences. Falk joined the College from the Johns Hopkins University, where he served at the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences as the James B. Knapp Dean and earlier as Dean of the Faculty. A high-energy physicist and award-winning teacher whose research focuses on elementary particle physics and quantum field theory, Falk is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a winner of prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, the Research Corporation, and the Sloan Foundation. Falk graduated with highest distinction as a Morehead-Cain Scholar from the University of North Carolina in 1987, and he earned his Ph.D. in 1991 from Harvard University, where he received numerous awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching. He held postdoctoral appointments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the University of California, San Diego, before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1994. The Vice President for College Relations At Williams since July of 2010, John Malcolm oversees programs designed to maintain alumni engagement with the College and programs focused on securing investment in College priorities by individuals, foundations, corporations, and government. From 2004 through 2010, he served Big Brothers Big Sisters, initially as Vice President of Philanthropy for the national organization headquartered in Philadelphia, then as President and CEO of the Greater Los Angeles agency. In his national role, he divided time between building a development operation, raising private source capital, and consulting with major market agencies on imbedding development as a core business function. During his tenure, the national office and nationwide federation achieved best-ever fundraising results. In Los Angeles, he led the turnaround of a high-potential, underperforming agency charged with sustainably providing

one-to-one volunteer mentors to more than 1,500 at-risk youth.

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From 2001 through 2004 he served as Director of Development at Swarthmore College, where his team implemented the most successful comprehensive campaign in the college’s history. His previous higher education development posting was at Bucknell University, where from 1995 through 2001, he consecutively led reunion giving, major gifts, and development. After graduating cum laude from Williams in 1986, he discovered his passion for non-profit fundraising by building field canvass programs for west coast affiliates of Citizen Action.

Williamstown, Massachusetts

Located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, Williamstown is 135 miles from Boston and 165 miles from New York City. One of the most culturally rich towns in America, it benefits from three remarkable museums – the Williams College Museum of Art, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, and in neighboring North Adams the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The rare book collection in the College’s Chapin Library is unsurpassed by any college and rivaled by that of few universities. Each summer, the campus houses the Tony Award winning Williamstown Theater

Festival. The region offers an array of winter sports activities and in the summer hosts the Tanglewood Music Festival. The closest commercial airport, Albany, is about one hour away. In recent years, the College has expanded its involvement with the local community. Faculty, staff, and students are engaged with a growing range of local initiatives. College and local officials meet regularly to advance projects of joint interest, and many local residents participate in campus events and services, including the College’s Children’s Center. The top priority in the College’s local involvement is education, primarily working with schools, but spreads well beyond to include healthcare along with economic and community development.

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Procedure for Candidacy Recruitment will continue until the position is filled. Nominations, expressions of interest, and applications (including a cover letter and resume) should be submitted via email to WilliamsExecDir@wittkieffer.com. Material that cannot be emailed may be sent to:

Executive Director of Principal Giving Williams College c/o Witt/Kieffer

Attention: Amy Crutchfield and Jon Derek Croteau, Ed.D. 2015 Spring Road, Suite 510

Oak Brook, Illinois 60523

Confidential inquiries and questions concerning this search may be directed to Amy Crutchfield and Jon Derek Croteau at 630/575-6154 . The material presented in this position specification should be relied on for informational purposes only. This material has been copied, compiled, or quoted in part from Williams College documents and personal interviews and is believed to be reliable. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information, the original source documents and factual situations govern.

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APPENDIX I Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy Williams College provides equality of employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Policy applies throughout the College; all departments and employees are responsible for its implementation. In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities for all individuals, employment decisions at the College will be based on qualifications and ability. Decisions regarding appointments, promotions, and conditions of employment comply with applicable federal or state law prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, ancestry, or military service. The College will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship. Employees or applicants needing accommodation should contact the Office of Human Resources at extension 2681. This policy governs all aspects of employment, including selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training. An employee who believes that he or she has been treated in a manner that violates the non-discrimination policies of the College and/or federal, state or local employment laws should discuss the matter with the Director of Human Resources, the Assistant Director of Human Resources, the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, the Vice President for Finance & Administration and Treasurer, or other discrimination grievance advisers. See also: Office of the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity. These advisers and officers stand ready to explain the College's grievance procedures. Employees can raise concerns and make reports without fear of reprisal.

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