Executive Assistant

Executive Assistant

At Children’s Institute (CI), our mission is to shift systems toward justice for families so that all children in Oregon, prenatal to grade five, have access to opportunity. We advocate for and secure public investments in early childhood programs and services and work directly with school communities to improve the learning experience for children.

We are keenly focused on children who experience barriers to opportunity due to race, poverty, disability, language, and geographic location. And we strive to connect research, lived experience, and community voice as we work to ensure that more children thrive in their early childhood experiences, succeed in kindergarten, and meet third grade benchmarks.

We’re making Oregon the best place to be a kid.

We invite you to join us.

About the Position

The Executive Assistant sits on the Operations team and reports directly to the CEO. The Executive Assistant’s main priorities are related to the CEO and Board’s success. This position works closely with CEO, Board, and Leadership team.

CI prioritizes an integrated, team-based work approach and a flexible, collegial work environment grounded in our values of honor, equity, learning, connectedness, and innovation.

Job Duties:

Executive Support—CEO

• Oversee and manage the CEO’s calendar, ensuring efficient scheduling and that the CEO is fully prepared for all meetings, events, and engagements.
  • Prep may include: Coordinating and managing communication team requests to ensure presentations, speeches, and other needs are completed ahead of events and gathering content or information from internal teams.
• Track CEO’s priorities and to-do items. Initiate coordination of follow up actions.
• Coordinate executive travel (book flights, lodging, vehicle travel, build itineraries, coordinate multiple scheduling priorities, etc.)
  
• Act independently on assigned tasks and exercise independent judgment based on analysis and experience.
• Support CEO in daily tasks, including:
  
  • Support CEO relationships via email, phone, and in-person meetings.
    
  • Produce meeting documents including agendas, meeting documents, minutes, and follow up actions.
  • Create and review action reports.
  • Staff CEO at relevant meetings (take minutes, track follow-up items, etc.)
    
  • Prepare expense reports, time sheets, and receipts.
  • Coordinate food and other supplies for meetings and events on behalf of the CEO.
    
• Develop strong relationships with individuals in the CEO’s professional network by understanding their roles and consistently providing high-quality, professional support.
• Coordinate and support efforts between the CEO and development and fundraising department including database input as needed.
  
• Coordinate organization-wide staff events on behalf of the CEO.
• Read, research, and route correspondence accordingly to conserve CEO’s time.
  
• Proactively identify opportunities to automate, streamline, and enhance efficiency in the CEO’s workflow.
• Maintain various records and documents for organization.

Board of Directors

• Act as a liaison between the CEO and board members and committees.
• Schedule and manage logistics for quarterly board meetings, board committee meetings, annual retreats or other convenings.
• Assemble and distribute board materials and track board document timelines.
• Write meeting agendas, minutes, track board action items, and terms.
• Assist leadership in scheduling meetings with board members.

Internal Support

• Support development department for donor relationships and event support as needed.
  
• Support program site visits and other field sites as needed.
  
• Engage as a proactive member of the Operations Team to ensure general office cleanliness and create a welcoming environment, take part in ordering general office supplies and other organizational duties, play a team role in answering phones and covering Operations Team to provide continuity.
  
• Other duties as assigned to be an effective Executive Assistant.

What You Can Expect to Accomplish in the First 6 Months:

• Maintain a well-organized, accurate, and up-to-date CEO calendar.
• Complete training on core CI tools and systems, including Asana, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and others.
• Successfully plan, coordinate, and support the execution of a Board meeting and Board retreat.
• Build strong relationships with staff and contribute to the planning and facilitation of a staff retreat.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A note on qualifications: Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they are able to perform every task in the job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job and will consider any equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education and experience to meet minimum qualifications. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for the role.

• Mission-driven individual that is committed to the success of children statewide.
  
• Commitment to equity and applying an equity lens to the work and relationships.
  
• 5 years of professional administrative office experience working with senior executive role.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Strong digital and online skills desired, including Microsoft Office Suite (particularly Outlook for calendar management), EveryAction (or similar database management platform), Zoom, and the Adobe Suite.
  
• Proactive self-starter who is flexible, motivated, and able to take initiative.
  
• Exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills, including business writing skills with ability to compose reports, proposals, meeting minutes and other business correspondence.
  
• Project management skills and ability to strategize the implementation of projects.
  
• Ability to navigate many detail-oriented tasks while understanding the big picture needs of the organization.
  
• Experience working with multiple calendars, competing interests, and priorities.
  
• Ability to anticipate problems, pay attention to details, and follow through to ensure that a job is well done.
  
• Demonstrated ability to maintain confidentiality.

Physical and Sensory Requirements

• Mostly sedentary work; using standard office equipment including: a computer, keyboard, and telephone.
• Hybrid expectations: onsite at our downtown Portland office.
• Position requires some travel to sites across Oregon.
• Valid driver's license, ability to drive personal or rented vehicles.

Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation please email [email protected].

Salary & Current Benefits

• Salary: $79,306 - $89,260
• Medical and dental coverage through Kaiser Permanente. Employees have gold-level premiums covered at 100%. Buy-up available. CI pays 25% of premiums for qualified dependents.
• FSA accounts for medical costs, dependent care, and commuting expenses.
• 401k plan with up to 2% match and 2% automatic employer contribution. 3-year vesting schedule.
• Time off: 15 paid holidays; 3 weeks of vacation time in year one; 80 hours of sick leave; company closures in July and December. Sabbatical opportunity at year seven.
• 12 weeks leave for family leave, pregnancy and disability leave, or medical leave.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Other benefits include: professional development stipend, cell phone reimbursement, commuter stipend, and employer paid life insurance.