Careers

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Position Title: Chief Operating Officer

The Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) is a major provider of flexible, affordable financing and technical assistance to small and midsize community organizations engaged in affordable housing, social service and economic development initiatives that benefit low- and moderate-income communities throughout metropolitan Chicago. CCLF specializes in providing financial and technical assistance to credit- and capacity-challenged agencies and projects. CCLF is a leading provider of predevelopment and gap finance, and a lender to affordable and limited-equity housing cooperatives.

CCLF is a fast-paced, dynamic, growth-oriented community development financial institution with an energetic 15-person team that manages over $30 million in total assets.  For more information, please see our websites at www.cclfchicago.org and www.greeaffordable.org.

Position

Having just celebrated our 20^th anniversary and developed a new Strategic Plan for the 2012-2016 business cycle, CCLF recognizes the need to strengthen our organizational capacity by re-visiting the needs of our customers and partners to ensure our programs are meeting the current needs of our communities, streamlining our processes, up-dating our metrics and ensuring our lending, finance and compliance areas are continuing to follow industry best practices. 

The President is looking for a mission-focused, seasoned, strategic, and process-minded leader with experience leading an executive management team, and developing a performance culture among a group of diverse, talented individuals. The COO must be a leader who is able to help others at CCLF deliver measurable, cost-effective results that make CCLF’s vision a reality. Importantly, the successful COO will have the skills, sensitivity, and personal confidence to tap into the power that each member of the team brings to CCLF’s mission. While it is essential that the COO bring efficient and effective systems to increase the productivity of the organization, is it also critical that the team retain the creative spark and entrepreneurial spirit that drives the community development finance industry.

 Responsibilities

Reporting to the President of CCLF, the COO will lead all internal operations and will have the following responsibilities:

Execute Business Plan: Working in partnership with the President, Vice Presidents and all levels of the organization to execute and update the business (operating) plan to deliver on the goals of the strategic five-year plan, implementing new processes and approaches to deepen and grow core business lines, broaden and expand services and strengthen internal capacity:

• Work with executive team to implement annual department and executive-level work plans to ensure that CCLF is on track to meet goals articulated in the 2012 – 2016 Strategic Plan.
• Develop and implement internal benchmarks, internal controls and establish process for staff measurement, reporting, evaluation and development.
• Lead the management team in creating an organizational staffing growth and succession plan that provides internal infrastructure and ensures capacity to succeed with programs and goals.
• Lead the performance management process with executive team to ensure all systems and operations are functioning efficiently and effectively to meet growth and performance goals.

Internal Leadership: Serve as the internal leader of the organization, providing high-level leadership as the organization’s second-in-command and ensuring functional operational and solid framework for program expansion:

• Provide for all staff a strong day-to-day leadership presence; support an open-door policy for all staff members.
• Ensure optimal technology and space planning for the organization for maximum functionality and efficiency, including efforts to streamline internal data systems across departments.
• Work with management team to execute a highly effective project management process.
• Ensure that key impact measurements are in place and utilized to make mission delivery improvements.

Support the President: Assist the President with certain key functions:

• Conducting and presenting at board meetings.
• Communicating with the board, committees and consultants in coordination with the President.
• Communicating the brand and key messages internally and externally.
• Identifying geographic penetration opportunities and priorities.
• Increasing revenue, especially fee-for-service contracts (supports VPs as well).
• Ensuring that all operational policies and practices are adhered to by all staff; supporting President in developing new ones as needed including ones affecting authority levels.
• Supporting human resources management.
• Representing CCLF to partners and stakeholders as needed.

Lead the Management Team: Lead and manage the organization’s Vice Presidents, who have the following responsibilities:

Ÿ  Lending: Support the Vice President of Lending to ensure that business development, underwriting, portfolio management, risk management and impact reporting occurs according to organizational and department annual and strategic plan goals.

Ÿ  Technical Assistance: Work with the technical assistance and sustainability leadership in efforts to build a robust training, capacity building and consulting practice with innovative programming to meet client and organizational needs. 

Ÿ  Finance and Administration: Support the Vice President of Finance and administration to ensure that budgeting, accounting, compliance and reporting, human resource, and technology functions are operating well.

Fund Raising: Assist the President and Vice President of Finance and Administration with fund raising:

• Monitor budget, initially reporting to President on a monthly basis.
• Development and implementation of systems for reporting, measurement and supporting revenue generation.
• Ensure effective proposal preparation and grant writing, which may include writing request rationale.

1. Additional Responsibilities:  Represent CCLF on several external, local boards or committees and other duties as assigned.

Nature and Scope of Working Relationships

The Chief Operating Officer position requires maintaining working relationships with fellow team members, borrowers, potential clients, consultants, vendors, financial institutions, partners, other public and private sector institutions and peers in the field of community development, as well as the CCLF Board of Directors and committee volunteers. This position will report to the President.

Key Qualifications

As a prerequisite, the successful candidate must believe in the core values of CCLF and be driven by our mission. The candidate should demonstrate a passion for breaking new ground to lead social change in the areas of community development, housing, job creation and financing. Beyond that, we are seeking a candidate that has proven experience in both leading and building the capabilities of a driven, talented, diverse, growth oriented, mission-focused team.  The ideal candidate also must have proven abilities to manage and motivate a team in a non-profit environment.

Additional Requirements:

• Results focused - proven track record of exceeding goals and deadlines with a bottom-line orientation; evidence of the ability to consistently make good decisions through a combination of analysis, experience, and judgment; high level of business acumen, including successful P&L management and the ability to balance the delivery of programs against the realities of a budget; problem solving, project management, and creative resourcefulness
• Action Oriented—enjoys working hard and looks for challenges; able to act and react as necessary even if limited information is available; not afraid of conflict or to take charge of a situation; communicates directly and can overcome resistance to change and take unpopular stands when necessary

• Strategic Vision and Agility - ability to think strategically, anticipate future consequences and trends, and incorporate them into the organizational plan

• Leadership - ability to effectively build organization and staff capacity, developing an engaged workforce and the processes that ensure the organization runs smoothly with high morale

• General Management—thorough understanding of finance, lending, systems, and HR; broad experience with the full range of business functions and systems; must be highly organized
• Solid educational background—undergraduate degree required; MBA or similar advanced degree desired
• Knowledge of the metro-Chicago area and Spanish language is a plus

Compensation

This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated professional to assume a pivotal role in the evolution of a fast-paced, deeply committed organization. We are seeking an individual of outstanding quality with a respected track record. CCLF is prepared to offer a very attractive compensation package, including a competitive base salary as well as 3 weeks vacation; medical and dental insurance; and retirement (after 1 year).

Application Procedure:

PLEASE SUBMIT RESUMES VIA EMAIL BY April 30, 2012 to

David Erickson-Pearson

epdavid [at] earthlink [dot] net

                303-703-6165