Position: President/ CEO
Location: Texarkana, USA
Salary Range: $100,000-$140,000
Job Category: Executive
Trave Required: As Required to fulfill duties
Organization
The Texarkana, U.S.A. Chamber of Commerce (“the Chamber”) was founded 117 years ago and is a nonprofit, business-focused organization with over eight hundred members, ranging in size from large corporations to small businesses, from nonprofit agencies to higher education institutions. The Chamber’s mission is to improve Texarkana USA’s quality of life by welcoming, uniting and promoting business.The Chamber focuses its Program of Work in a number of key areas including: business development, networking, government affairs and advocacy, business retention and expansion, workforce development, community and economic development. The organization operates with an annual budget of over $700,000. More information about the Chamber can be found on its website:http://www.texarkana.org.
Texarkana, U.S.A.
Texarkana, USA possesses a host of historic treasures including annual festivals, entertainment from performing arts, stock car races, art exhibits, shopping, great outdoors and sporting opportunities, wonderful restaurants and a citizenry proud to call Texarkana home!
While here, you’ll see why Texarkana is “Twice as Nice!” There is two of almost everything: two city mayors, two city governments, two police departments, two fire departments, two community colleges and two major university systems. All of this, however, makes up one outstanding community!
Reporting Relationships
The President & Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Chamber reports to the Chair of the Executive Committee of the 15-member Board of Directors. The CEO will supervise the Chamber staff.
Other important interactions include: executives and employees of Chamber member organizations; local, state and national elected officials and their staff members; education officials at all levels; other regional chambers and cities, economic development and business-focused organizations in the Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas regions; members of the media.
Position Overview
The CEO is the top paid administrative executive of the Chamber and is responsible for the full range of activities: coordination of the program of work; organizational structure and procedures; motivation of volunteers and staff; income and expenditures; maintenance of membership; employment, training and supervision of staff; interpretation of policy; maintenance of building; long-range planning. The CEO position is “exempt” under the FLSA.
The CEO plans, organizes, directs, and controls the Chamber's services, products, business retention and expansion program and public policy activities for the Chamber's members and responds to the needs of its members within available resources.
The CEO is responsible for developing and maintaining a collaborative working relationship between the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, the cities of Texarkana, TX, Texarkana, AR, Nash, TX, regional
economic development organizations, Red River Army Depot, AR-TX REDI, TexAmericas Center and other cities within the region.
The CEO must foster a collaborative business environment for the Chamber's members.
The CEO will delegate portions of his/her responsibilities consistent with sound operations, authorized policies and procedures, together with proportionate authority for the fulfillment of member services, marketing, business services, public policy, human resources, business retention, workforce and economic development, and other related functions of the Chamber.
Major Duties and Responsibilities include:
- Program of Work: The CEO is responsible for identification of Chamber and community needs and for the preparation of a program of work designed to meet these needs. This involves a constant evaluation of the program, with recommendations for changes as needed, and a system of measuring progress toward attainment of program and community goals.
- Business Retention: The CEO is responsible for identification and response to industrial, governmental and service employment opportunities considering and supporting local businesses, economic development partners, the workforce, infrastructure, local competitiveness and industries in the community.
- Chamber Structure and Procedures: The CEO must be constantly attentive to the internal structure of the Chamber, to insure that the organization functions with maximum efficiency in the anticipation, identification and solution of Chamber/community problems; recommend to the Board such changes in structure and procedures as are needed.
- Motivation of Volunteers: Key to the effectiveness of the Chamber is the ability of the CEO to lead volunteers to creative and fruitful action.
- Income and Expenses: Through the Finance Committee, the CEO is responsible for developing the Chamber’s budget and relating budget to program goals. As approved by the Board, the CEO is responsible for all expenditures within the framework of the budget. The CEO will insure that financial records of the Chamber are audited annually, and seek maximum staff efficiency in all financial procedures.
- Long-range Planning: Under a constantly evolving Board of Directors and annual change in officers, the CEO is responsible for maintaining continuity and consistency in programming. Based on proper research of community needs, the CEO must anticipate emerging and long-range opportunities and recommend Chamber and community programs to meet needs.
- Membership: The Ambassadors, Directors and CEO are responsible for maintaining the membership at a level that will insure necessary income for the operation of the program. Membership currently stands at over eight hundred.
- Greater Texarkana Young Professionals (GTYP): The CEO is responsible for supporting, participating and attending GTYP events. Assist GTYP with opportunities to educate and develop young professionals by providing networking, career development and volunteer opportunities within our community.
- Staff: The CEO is responsible for employment of all staff personnel, the assignment of their duties, the supervision of their work and the establishment, within the framework of the approved budget, and of the
- Terms of their employment. The CEO will develop performance goals annually for staff and will insure participation in professional conferences, seminars and institutes as are needed to develop and maintain operations and staff development.
- Interpretation of Policy: The CEO will insure that Chamber policy, as established by the Board, is properly recorded in minutes and indexed in the Policy Manual. The CEO will assist the Board, committees, members and the staff in interpretation of policy in relation to any given question of program. This executive will assist the Board Chair in preparation of statements of Chamber position on public issues.
- Headquarters: As approved by the Board of Directors, the CEO is responsible for the location, design and maintenance of headquarters which will provide for an efficient operation and present on behalf of the community an attractive "front door" for the use of Chamber members, citizens of the community and visitors.
- External Relationships: Responsible for ongoing interaction and liaison with a wide constituency including:
Board of Directors: Earn and maintain the respect and confidence of the Chamber Board. Responsible for preparing meeting agendas, maintaining Board minutes and records, carrying out plans and programs of the Board in accordance with established policies, serving as representative of the Board for all contacts with the Chamber staff, initiating programs for consideration by the Board, and advising the Board on all matters under consideration.
Chamber Members: Responsible for motivating members to personally and financially support an aggressive Chamber program, analyzing and interpreting the needs of members and recommending revisions in the program of work to improve service and assistance to make membership more valuable.
Economic Development: As required to enhance the local economy, work closely with Texarkana U.S.A. Economic Development Committee which is wholly operated within the organization. Support and collaborate with regional economic development partners such as AR -TX REDI, TexAmericas, and cities of Texarkana, TX and Texarkana, AR, Nash, TX.
Government Officials: Maintain strong communication and relationship with elected and appointed officials and their staffs within the city of Texarkana U.S.A. and the broader region, along with state and federal levels. Play a key role in advocacy on behalf of the Chamber and in line with Chamber objectives.
Community: Through personal contacts with key community leaders, the CEO helps shape the Texarkana U.S.A. community, frequently called upon to relate Chamber activities to the activities of all other groups and organizations that impact the quality of life in the region (commercial, industrial, educational, cultural, civic and spiritual). CEO takes a leadership role in local and regional issues, projects or community organizations to assure presence and involvement of the Chamber to accomplish its mission.
Education: Continue to foster stronger relationships with representatives of local colleges, universities and school districts.
Media: Develop and maintain good working relationships with the local and regional print and electronic media.
Compensation
The President & Chief Executive Officer is expected to earn an attractive compensation package, negotiable dependent on the proper candidates qualifications and experience; appropriate benefits are provided.
The Candidate
Education:
A Bachelor degree is required; an advanced degree in business, finance, law, public administration or related field is desirable. If the candidate’s professional experience includes chamber or economic/industrial development industry background, a graduate of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management, Certified Chamber Executive designation or Certified Economic Developer designation that is desirable.
Professional Qualifications:
The ideal candidate must have a proven track record of success and may come from a variety of backgrounds such as: serving as the top executive within a progressive and comparably-sized chamber of commerce, or related significant business association, or economic development-focused organization; experience as a “#2” or other senior-level executive at a larger like enterprise as noted above; or an executive from a complex private or public sector entity. At least five years of experience in a leadership role is required. This person should have demonstrated experience in managing staff and budgets as well as strong verbal and written communication skills that can be utilized with a variety of audiences (e.g., members, Board, staff, and community leaders). In addition, significant Board interaction and experience leading large numbers of volunteers is strongly desired.
Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Membership development (track record of membership development, retention, increased value).
- Fiscal management (demonstrated ability to manage financial affairs of an organization).
- Management experience (strong human resource development; has effectively led a complex organization).
- Collaborative relationships (demonstrated track record of developing effective partnerships among all sectors).
- Board relationships (significant involvement with Board development, recruitment and governance).
- Government relations (effective working relationships with elected/appointed officials and their staffs).
- Communication (effective oral and written communicator with internal and external audiences).
- Educational institutions (demonstrated collaboration with leaders of K-16 schools).
- Small business (programmatic success of serving small business enterprises and working with entrepreneurs).
- Planning (experience in developing and implementing both operational and strategic plans).
- Established contacts (has developed and maintained regional and national connections).
- Business Retention (experience working with economic and industrial developers, external clients to attract, retain and expand existing businesses).
- Workforce Development (experience working with ACT Work Ready Communities initiative, community colleges, K-12 and university systems)
- Tourism (experience working with local CVBs as a key component of economic development).
- Resource development (experience with varied successful funding activities including Total Resource Campaign, special events, dues and non-dues revenue campaigns)
- Volunteer organization experience (proven ability to motivate and utilize staff and volunteers).
- Media/public relations (effectively articulate policy positions to the media and the community at large).
- Varied industries (experience within a business environment with diverse industries including manufacturing, education, healthcare, retail, services, and hospitality).
Desired Personal Traits:
- Integrity (possesses honesty and the highest ethical and moral standards).
- Leadership (a take charge individual with vision; can manage, motivate, challenge and delegate to others, build a culture of excellence).
- Vision (a forward thinker; able to envision the big picture beyond daily operations; brings “outside the box” ideas).
- Interpersonal skills (relates well to people; builds constructive and effective relationships).
- Collaborative (sees value in working with others to achieve positive results for the community)
- Teamwork (speaks of “we” first, not “I”; relishes in sharing credit with others).
- Communication skills (good listener; excellent written and public speaking communication skills).
- Consensus-building (able to forge effective working relationships with various parties to work together).
- Visibility (highly visible to staff, members and business leaders; active in the community and region).
- Executive presence (polished; self-confident).
- Management style (empowers staff; serves as a mentor for staff in their own professional development).
- Credibility (can command respect of Board, members, staff, business and regional leaders).
- Political acumen (demonstrated ability to strategically navigate among local, county, state and federal leaders).
- Results oriented (meets established goals and objectives and strives for stretch goals).
- Risk taker (isn’t afraid to challenge status-quo thinking).
- Change agent (willing to push the envelope and challenge traditional thinking through education and advocacy).
- Genuine (sincere; authentic; trustworthy; transparent).
- Persuasive (able to synthesize various viewpoints and convince disparate groups to come to a logical resolution).
- Energetic (genuinely enthusiastic; strong personal work ethic).
- Creative (able to envision nontraditional solutions to issues).
- Continuous improvement (not content with status quo; seeks to enhance the organization’s capacity at all levels).
- Intelligent (bright; street smarts and natural intelligence).
Challenges and Opportunity:
The projected first year accomplishments for the new President & CEO of the Texarkana, U.S.A. Chamber of Commerce include:
- Establish presence as the Chamber’s CEO and become completely familiar with all operating aspects of the Chamber, including staff, finances, and program of work, Board and volunteers.
- Initiate formal and informal introductions and connections with Chamber members and throughout Texarkana, U.S.A. through varied communications and in-person gatherings and meetings, thereby developing strong and trusting relationships with key constituencies.
- Evaluate all aspects of Chamber operations to include finances and budgets, programs, events, written materials and publications, website and forms of communication to membership and the regional community. Identify areas for value added changes to programs and services. Seek to engage and attract a larger group of member organizations to the Chamber.
- Expand efforts to engage area businesses that are not currently involved with the Chamber to reflect the community’s economic and ethnic diversity.
The President & Chief Executive Officer position of the Texarkana, U.S.A. Chamber is an outstanding opportunity for a chamber of commerce, association, or private/public sector executive to lead and expand a solid chamber organization in an attractive Northeast Texas/Southwest Arkansas community.
Texarkana, U.S.A. Chamber’s heritage has been to serve as “the voice of business” in the area. The Chamber Board and members are committed to the success of their business environment and this position offers an exciting opportunity to take the Chamber to the next level.
All interested applicants please send your resume txkusachambersearch@gmail.com
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $100,000.00 - $140,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
