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POSITION SUMMARY
The President and CEO is responsible for providing strategic leadership for Archaeology Southwest by working with the Board of Directors and the Archaeology Southwest staff to establish long-range goals, strategies, plans, and policies. He/She oversees all organizational activities and ensures that these are carried out in a manner consistent with the organization’s mission, policies, and programs, as adopted by the Board of Directors. The President and CEO is the organization’s lead spokesperson and most visible representative. She/He directs Archaeology Southwest’s research, advocacy, and outreach agendas and secures financial support for the organization.
The President and CEO reports to the Board of Directors and oversees a professional staff of 18 full-time employees. This position is based in the Historic Bates Mansion complex in downtown Tucson, Arizona.
POSITION OPPORTUNITY
This is a dynamic era in North American archaeology and place-focused conservation. Theory and practice are undergoing fundamental and necessary transformations to ensure the fields become more diverse, inclusive, just, responsive, and transparent. Archaeology Southwest is uniquely poised on the leading edge of those changes in large part because of its inception of and long-term commitment to Preservation Archaeology. As a living practice rooted in community, collaboration, and conservation, Preservation Archaeology is adept at responding to significant challenges and emergent opportunities.
The President and CEO of Archaeology Southwest has a truly unique opportunity to steer the organization as it places collaboration and reciprocity with Tribes and other descendant communities at the heart of its holistic work in research, education, conservation, and advocacy. Our success will have meaningful impacts well beyond the achievements of our particular projects and programs. Archaeology Southwest is positioned to help lead a society that respects, protects, and celebrates heritage places and ancestral landscapes because it respects, protects, and celebrates the values, knowledge, and humanity such places hold and evoke.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:
Organizational Leadership (35%)
- Provides leadership to ensure that the mission and core values of Archaeology Southwest are put into practice.
- Leads efforts to update and implement Archaeology Southwest’s strategic plan. Fosters a success-oriented, accountable environment within Archaeology Southwest.
- Creates and maintains constructive relationships with partner and colleague organizations, elected officials, key constituency groups, and local, state, and federal governmental agencies.
Donor Development / External Representation (15%)
- Partners effectively with the Director of Philanthropy to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors, funders, and foundations.
- Represents Archaeology Southwest at events, receptions, and meetings.
Management and Supervision (30%)
- Motivates and leads a high-performance team.
- Oversees the fiscal, legal, and personnel management of the organization.
- Serves as a “capacity-builder” and fosters a culture of innovation and improvement for the organization.
Board Relations (20%)
- Serves as principal liaison with the Board of Directors regarding institutional and programmatic development and progress.
- Serves as a voting member of the Board of Directors.
- Reports on a regular basis to the Board Chair regarding the state of the organization.
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:
Advanced Degree in anthropology or conservation-related field from an accredited university or college and work experience at a senior-level position within a nonprofit organization that included responsibilities for program planning and budgeting, program development and evaluation, consultant management, and personnel management; previous experience of 10 years ideal.
Experience in directing strategic planning; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives; or other organizational development activities involving both staff and board of a nonprofit organization.
Demonstrated success in raising major gifts from individual, foundation, or corporate donors.
Proven ability to speak and write knowledgeably about issues of public concern to diverse audiences.
Demonstrated management skills that include planning, decision-making, facilitating, and process improvement.
Experience in supervising staff, providing regular performance feedback, developing subordinates’ skills and encouraging growth. Core competencies and leadership style: charisma, adaptability, innovative, values-oriented, transparent, team-oriented, consensus-building, ability to collaborate, entrepreneurial, ability to develop new program ideas and take risks, with a sense of fun.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:
Leadership in advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.
Experience in successfully collaborating with Tribes or other place-based communities.
Experience in archaeology, landscape conservation, or heritage preservation.
Experience in leading multi-stakeholder collaborative processes producing tangible outcomes.
Experience in advocating for administrative and legislative policy reforms at the local, state, or federal level.
Experience in serving as a spokesperson for advocacy campaigns. Will arrive with a “sense of place” based on previous personal experiences in the US Southwest.
HOURS & BENEFITS
The President and CEO role is a full-time position based in Tucson, Arizona. A full benefits package is offered, including employer-paid group life insurance, short and long-term disability, paid time off (200 hours with additional hours each year), health insurance, free employee vision plan, optional dental plan (50% subsidized), 401k plan with 20% employer match, and an annual professional development budget.
Salary will be commensurate with experience: $150,000 to $170,000.
TO APPLY
Archaeology Southwest has retained the services of ThinkingAhead Executive Search. Please submit your resume and expression of interest to Jessica Martinez, Partner, at jmartinez@thinkingahead.com and Jimmy Hillig, Executive Recruiter, at jhillig@thinkingahead.com.
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ABOUT ARCHAEOLOGY SOUTHWEST
Founded in 1989, Archaeology Southwest is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Tucson, Arizona, on the homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. We are privileged to work across the US Southwest and into northwestern Mexico on the Lands and Territories of many Indigenous Tribes and descendant communities.
We practice Preservation Archaeology, a holistic and conservation-based approach to exploring and protecting heritage places while also honoring the diverse values these places hold for people. We gather information, help make it accessible and understandable, share it with the public and decision-makers, advocate for landscape-scale protection, and co-steward heritage preserves with people who share interests in their conservation.
We are committed to real and ongoing collaboration with Tribes in all areas of our work. Because of Indigenous Peoples’ loss or limited physical and interpretive control over their Lands and heritage places, there are deep disconnects between Indigenous descendants with ties to those places and what is said about those places. This is also true for what is said about how those places are or should be managed and protected.
To help address these disconnects, Archaeology Southwest is transforming our work. To ensure Tribal engagement and co-creation, we increasingly share power and benefits equitably with Indigenous nations and descendant communities in all our activities. Archaeology Southwest cannot merely consult on terms we set; we must co-create those terms of engagement with Indigenous nations and descendant communities.