Senior Director, Business Development Programs (Chicago)

Senior Director, Business Development Programs

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The Commercial Club of Chicago and Civic Committee Overview

The Commercial Club of Chicago works to shape Chicago’s future to make our region a better place for everyone to live, work, and do business. Since 1877 we have helped shape Chicago into one of the world’s greatest cities. The Commercial Club of Chicago is a membership organization of senior leaders in the region. Our members span the business, education, civic, cultural, and philanthropic sectors - unified by excitement for the future of Chicago. We believe cooperation and an open exchange of ideas are fundamental to success.

In 1983, the Civic Committee was formed as an entity within the Commercial Club to identify key issues facing the State of Illinois and the greater Chicago region and providing leadership, high-quality research, long-term policy recommendations and programmatic actions for the benefit of the city and region. The Civic Committee serves as the Commercial Club’s lead on policy and initiatives in public safety, business diversity, transportation and infrastructure, and state and local finance.

We also work alongside, and partially fund, the organizations established by us to tackle key issues head-on:

• Civic Consulting Alliance
• Kids First Chicago
• P33

Terms of Employment

This is a full-time position with benefits, reporting to the Senior Vice President for Economic Opportunity. Initial employment will be on a probationary basis, with detailed evaluations and feedback for new employees at the 30-, 60-, and 90-day marks.

Position Summary

The Civic Committee launched the Chicago Business Opportunity Initiative (CBOI) with a vision to make Chicagoland the most economically prosperous and inclusive region in the country. We are primarily focused on economic growth for all in the Chicago region with specific goals of supporting the growth of Chicago based businesses operating in high growth sectors, increasing jobs on Chicago’s South and West sides, and creating an ecosystem of organizations working collectively to sustain change over time. We have organized CBOI into two pillars (business growth and business ecosystem) through which we will execute plans. A senior executive Task Force steers CBOI’s strategic plan.

The Senior Director, Business Development Programs

The successful candidate will be a strategic and execution leader with demonstrated subject matter expertise in business development and procurement with a proven track record of accelerating growth for under-scaled, underrepresented, and highly capable businesses. This role will lead an assigned portion of CBOI strategy with a focus on accelerating growth and development of businesses operating in Chicago. This role will interface frequently with Civic Committee leadership, the CBOI Task Force and other key stakeholders. The successful candidate must be able to work in a fast-paced, complex high-change environment. The successful candidate must have a go-to network of business development resources in areas like access to capital, positioning for private investment, constructing road shows, business continuity planning, global supply chain, strategic alliances and other areas to drive measurable economic growth

Essential Functions

• Design and lead business development strategic planning and programs to drive measurable increases in the utilization of Chicago based businesses operating in high growth sectors.
• Identify viable Chicago based businesses operating in high growth sectors to participate in programming. Perform due diligence to ensure alignment with program objectives. Secure commitment from senior business leaders to participate in programming.
• Design mechanisms for organizations to build relationships with Chicago based businesses operating in high growth sectors/industries. Coordinate introductions, assess performance and drive continuous improvements to strengthen the competitiveness of Chicago based businesses.
• Share regional business data, insights, and trends.
• Operate in a fast moving, complex environment with an innovative mindset and a high degree of independence and autonomy.
• Collaborate with Chicago based organizations to share economic related data, insights, and trends.
• Define short, medium, and long-term goals for Chicago based business growth. Measure the impact of business growth initiatives and manage progress towards goals.
• Facilitate meetings, focus groups, and sessions to cultivate understanding and empower collective action. Attend conferences and meetings as requested.
• Work collaboratively with other organizations including non-profits, universities, governmental and advocacy groups to understand root cause issues impacting Chicago’s business ecosystem while working collectively to drive transformative, measurable changes.

Communication and Collaboration

• Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills. This position requires in-depth written reports, updates, and presentations, sometimes with short notice. The successful candidate must submit to a Writing Assessment and respond to frequency of use of writing skills to determine proficiency level.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, colleagues, and businesses to achieve shared goals, resolve challenges, and drive meaningful changes in Chicago.
• Develop a CBOI performance scorecard that includes key performance indicators, data, and insights. Distribute to Civic Committee leadership monthly and quarterly. Support CBOI data requests as needed.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the Civic Committee’s business growth and development related programs designed to scale Chicago based businesses operating in high growth sectors.
• Own the Civic Committee’s business growth and development related goals and action plans to achieve CBOI objectives. Leverage best practices from supply chain management, private equity, economic development, and regional growth plans.
• Conduct in-depth assessments of various regional approaches to business growth and development, identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress over time. Be the champion of continuous improvement and celebrate wins, big and small.

Position Requirements

Education and Experience Requirements

• 10+ years of prior, relevant experience leading business development strategy and execution. Proven senior level communication skills. Strong interpersonal and leadership abilities. Proven record of success accelerating growth for under-scaled, underrepresented and highly capable businesses.
• MBA or comparable professional degree preferred but not required.

Required Personal Attributes

• Exude the knowledge, expertise and credibility expected of a senior initiative leader. A bias toward accuracy and action. The ability to lead other leaders in a working group setting while influencing collective action through persuasive cases, data, and insights.
• Collaborative, innovative, and with high accountability for getting the job done.
• Able to manage large volumes of work while making the right trade-offs. Able to work independently with appropriate input from leadership.
• Able to think and act strategically and take the initiative.
• An advocate for business development with proven experience advising small, under-scaled, and underrepresented firms on optimal methods of progressive growth.
• A masterful understanding of business development including proven growth strategies, methods, and tactics (ex: capital access, customer acquisition, technology resources, strategic partnerships, global supply chain, and procurement processes).
• Previous experience leading collective action initiatives including partnering with companies, non-profit organizations, and government to grow and scale businesses.
• Excellent writing skills demonstrated in a fast-paced environment. Data and research centric.
• Excellent presentation skills.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate business development objectives into tangible outcomes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data insights.
• Excellent organization and project management skills.

The position is in Chicago. Regular travel within the city is required.

We believe that the path to achieving our missions requires our organizations and teams to regularly collaborate, work in teams, maintain collegiality, and provide a space for thought-partnership, all of which are best accomplished in person. However, we also recognize that appropriate flexibility is beneficial to the effectiveness of our employees and our organizations. With that in mind, we offer opportunities for employees to work in a combination of in-person and remote work (“hybrid” option).

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Club and its affiliated organizations are equal opportunity employers and do not unlawfully discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of any legally protected characteristic, whether actual or perceived, including, including, but not limited to, an individual’s race, religion, color, creed, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, pregnancy, age, disability, genetic inf