The Carter Center: Executive Vice President, Chief Growth & Strategy Officer of TCC

The Carter Center is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization founded in 1982 in Atlanta, GA, by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University. The Center has helped to improve millions of lives in more than 80 countries by waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope. The Carter Center is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering. It seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health. 

The Carter Center collaborates with other organizations, public and private, in carrying out its mission around the world. Current information about the Center’s many programs and activities are available at The Carter Center.

SUMMARY:

The Executive Vice President, Chief Growth and Strategy Officer (CGSO) is the senior executive responsible for enhancing and sustaining a One Carter Center operating model across the capabilities that sit outside direct Program delivery but determine whether Programs can achieve, demonstrate, finance, communicate, and extend their impact. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the CGSO translates The Carter Center's mission and strategy into Center-wide priorities, aligned resources, diversified revenue, differentiated partnerships, compelling influence, stronger evidence and learning, financially informed investment choices, and accountable execution. The CGSO provides executive leadership to Development (Dev), Communications (Comms), and Strategy, Innovation and Learning (SIL), while preserving the professional authority, ELT standing where applicable, and leadership responsibilities of the executives and directors who lead those functions. Peace and Health retain technical Program strategy, quality, outcomes, talent, technical risk, and delivery. Overseas Operations retains responsibility for the international operating platform and country administrative accountability. The CGSO creates and stewards the strategy-management and integration architecture through which Program priorities, evidence, funding intelligence, financial scenarios, investment requirements, partnerships, narrative, and operational implications become coherent Center-wide choices. The endowment provides unusual strength and mission independence, but it also makes disciplined capital allocation essential. The CGSO will work closely with the CFO and Program VPs to ensure that unrestricted capital, fundraising efforts, partnerships, and institutional capacity are deployed against explicit strategic choices and that temporary financial flexibility supports durable transformation.

FORMAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Center-wide strategy and execution.
• Leads the recurring strategy-management cycle; translates the FY2027-2031 strategy into priorities, milestones, accountabilities, investment choices, annual plans, budgets, portfolio reviews, performance reviews, and adaptation.
• Ensures strategy becomes a management system rather than a periodic planning exercise.
• Growth and financial sustainability.
• Defines and leads a multi-year growth thesis encompassing diversified philanthropy, major and principal gifts, foundations and institutions, corporate partnerships, HNWI and next-generation giving, donor-advised funds, planned and endowment giving, strategic partnerships, appropriate innovative finance, new audiences, reputation, and influence. Partners with the CFO, VP Development, Program VPs, and CEO to connect growth ambition to financial scenarios, full economics, revenue concentration, and long-term sustainability.
• Development leadership and capital formation.
• Supervises and sponsors the Vice President, Development.
• Establishes Center-wide revenue ambition and performance expectations while preserving the VP's authority over fundraising craft, donor portfolios, Development operations, stewardship, talent, systems, and execution.
• Strengthens pipeline management, donor acquisition and retention, principal-gift strategy, win-rate discipline, investable cases, opportunity qualification, pre-positioning, proposal strategy, cost recovery, and shared accountability between Programs and Development.
• Communications, identity, and influence. Supervises and sponsors the VP Communications.
• Advances a unified post-founder narrative that connects the founders' legacy to current and future impact.
• Strengthens audience strategy, storytelling, media, digital engagement, executive voice, thought leadership, brand stewardship, Program-facing support, and influence.
• Aligns Communications resources with strategic priorities while preserving professional standards and Programs' distinct technical voice.
• Strategy, innovation, learning, and evidence. Supervises and sponsors the Director, Strategy, Innovation and Learning.
• Strengthens SIL as the Center's strategy-management, evidence, learning, foresight, innovation, and responsible AI capability.
• Establishes common standards and routines for performance measurement, evaluation, learning, portfolio review, and knowledge use.
• Defines an effective matrix between Center-wide standards and Program-embedded M&E and technical expertise.
• Program portfolio and investment discipline.
• Partners with Peace and Health VPs, SIL, Development, Finance, Communications, Operations, and other leaders to apply the Strategic Decision Framework to material start, continue, scale, adapt, partner, concentrate, and stop decisions.
• Ensures strategic alignment, impact, and evidence, risk, funding availability, comparative advantage, partnership fit, organizational capacity, full cost, unrestricted exposure, time to results, and influence or institutional value inform major resource commitments.
• Strategic partnerships and external growth.
• Develops and coordinates high-value relationships with philanthropies, corporations, governments, multilaterals, universities, local organizations, networks, and other allies where partnership can extend impact, unlock resources, strengthen influence, or create new strategic opportunities.
• CEO, Board, and ELT partnership.
• Serves as a senior adviser and thought partner to the CEO and as a peer member of the ELT.
• Partners closely with the CFO and Program VPs so financial truth, strategy, growth, Program priorities, and investment choices are connected before material decisions are made.
• Brings integrated options, trade-offs, dashboards, and recommendations to executive and Board discussions.
• Leads selected CEO-sponsored Center-wide initiatives and, when designated, serves as senior executive in charge during the CEO's absence.
• Executive Administration.
• Provides executive leadership and strategic direction for Communications, Development, and Strategy, Innovation and Learning, working through the Vice President and Director who leads each of these areas and is accountable for managing that area's budget.
• Prepares, develops, and monitors the Executive Vice President budget to ensure compliance within fiscal constraints.
• Ensures each area's alignment with organizational policies and procedures, and supports the professional growth of the Vice Presidents and Director and their teams by identifying educational programs, professional organizations, and resources that maintain knowledge of national trends and promote leading-edge expertise.
• Leadership, culture, and talent.
• Coaches and develops the VP Development, VP Communications, and SIL Director; strengthens succession and leadership depth; and models integration without erasure.
• Builds a culture of high autonomy paired with high accountability, clear ownership, disciplined follow-through, learning, transparency, responsible experimentation, and respect for technical and functional expertise.
• Partners with the COO and CEO on disciplined change management so major organizational changes are clearly explained, sequenced, heard, and implemented.
• Performs other related duties as required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• A master's degree and fifteen years of relevant work/leadership experience in complex global, mission-driven organizations.
• The individual must have proven managerial and leadership skills, collaborative strategic planning successes and experience in a wide variety of organizational settings (e.g., United Nations, World Bank, Center for Disease Control (CDC), government, NGOs, independent consulting, and academia).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Demonstrated leadership across strategy, growth, philanthropy or capital formation, communications or influence, partnerships, organizational transformation, and people leadership.
• A record of mobilizing substantial philanthropic and cross-sector resources, diversifying revenue, building partnerships, shaping strategy, and scaling impact.
• Experience leading through influence across strong professional and technical leaders, with the ability to integrate without diminishing functional or Program authority.
• Fluency with Boards and governance and credibility with philanthropy, corporations, governments, multilaterals, media, community organizations, and international partners.

NOTE: This role will be granted the opportunity to work from home regularly but must be able to commute to The Carter Center on a flexible weekly schedule based upon business needs. Schedule is based on agreed upon guidelines. All non-exempt employees must reside within the state of Georgia. The Carter Center reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer.