Director of Member Experience and Education

Reports To: VP of Operations
Department: Membership
Societies: All

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Primary Objectives of the Position:

The Director of Member Experience and Education position takes an active leadership role in understanding the organization’s business objectives and building member engagement and education strategies and plans to support the achievement of those objectives. This position is responsible for developing creative and effective strategies to promote member value in ways that increase new member growth and strong retention. This position is also responsible for the development and execution of new educational opportunities that employ a variety of learning styles. This position works closely with leadership, event, membership, education and publication staff to plan and execute all membership and education activities, products and services.

Assignment will include supporting associations/societies from this listlist (and potentially others as they are added):

• Cereals and Grains Association
• American Society of Brewing Chemists
• American Phytopathological Society
• Master Brewers Association of the Americas
• Pink Boots Society
• Int’l Society for Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions
• Society of Sensory Professionals

Primary Areas of Responsibility:

Member Engagement

• Lead integrated member engagement activities for assigned associations; coordinate all membership programs; manage overall process including development of annual budgets, membership calendars, recruitment and retention campaign development, production and distribution.
• Responsible for maintaining each association’s brand standards in all membership and communication activities.
• Supervise Membership team, providing direction, oversight and coaching.
• Assist in the definition of membership and engagement strategies; continually assess and refine communication and marketing activities, in conjunction with the Marketing team to achieve those goals.
• Regularly review membership structure, value proposition and pricing to maximize member benefits, membership growth and revenue - from first contact throughout their membership journey.
• Conduct regular research as needed to identify needs, opportunities, trends, and member demographics, etc.
• Identify and implement membership best practices and programs; recommend new products, programs or business lines to best meet member needs.
• Identify, recommend and conduct research to understand member needs and translate insights into integrated programs and benefits as well as to develop targeted member communications.
• Contribute to the content development for associations’ websites.
• When appropriate, provide advice and consultation to divisions, chapters and districts interested in membership recruitment and retention issues and processes.
• Develop and implement business processes for measuring progress toward revenue/sales goals; provide regular status reports to the VP of Operations and the Executive team.

Education Management

• Lead scientific and professional development activities for assigned associations that employ use of the learning management system or are delivered as webinars in conjunction with each organization’s strategic objectives.
• Coordinate all education programs; manage overall process including development of annual budgets, product development, production and distribution.
• Responsible for maintaining each association’s brand standards in all education activities.
• Supervise Education team, providing direction, oversight and coaching.
• Regularly review education offerings, value proposition and pricing to maximize benefits, participant growth and revenue.
• Conduct regular research as needed to identify needs, opportunities, trends, and member demographics, etc.
• Identify and implement adult learning best practices and programs; recommend new products, programs or business lines to best meet stakeholder needs.
• Contribute to the content development for associations’ websites.
• When appropriate, provide advice and consultation to divisions, chapters and districts interested in education programs and processes.
• Develop and implement business processes for measuring progress toward revenue/sales goals; provide regular status reports to the VP of Operations and the Executive team.

Volunteer Management

• Oversee a team of program/committee managers of membership efforts for outreach, international, job centers, mid-career, and student/early career initiatives. Serve as staff liaison and coordinate initiatives of member-driven committees to enhance member engagement; manage various committee projects, provide budget updates/status reports, handle logistics of meetings, and prepare materials for assigned committees.
• Fulfill member volunteer requests for support on an as needed basis. Provide prompt and efficient response and resolution to each inquiry.

Experience and Qualification Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in membership marketing, communications, or related field.
• A minimum of five years of staff management experience.
• Experience in a professional non-profit association or member-driven organization; scientific focus preferred.
• Business acumen, including proven expertise in creating strategies based on business objectives.
• Requires strong leadership, problem solving ability, critical thinking, active listening, and quantitative analytical skills.
• A proven track record of leading a service-oriented team working with members, volunteers, committees and/or clients.
• Experience in leading and executing experiential programs and events that drive member engagement.
• Able to lead multi-faceted programs; multi-task and work independently and efficiently under deadlines; produce quality work product; work effectively with / gain input from / positively influence differing audiences and colleagues.
• Proactive and results oriented; sees what needs to be done and does it.
• Positive, people-oriented person who can represent the organization at meetings and events and can connect/network between diverse member groups.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and a proven track record of synthesizing multiple, perhaps conflicting inputs and converting them to cohesive action.
• Strategic and creative thinking skills combined with new product development ability and demonstrated leadership.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)/AMS database experience, preferably iMIS, Salesforce or similar, including but not limited to analyzing reports related to member activity.
• Experience with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); email marketing programs and online community software.
• Location in the Twin Cities, Minnesota is a plus, and an ability to travel to the Eagan-based office periodically is necessary.

About Scientific Societies:

Scientific Societies (SciSoc) is a unique cost-sharing cooperative of nonprofit scientific associations, established in 1967 in a partnership between Cereals & Grains Association and the American Phytopathological Society (APS) – these two societies remain stakeholder associations of SciSoc. The clients we serve include: American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC), International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI), Master Brewers Association of the Americas (Master Brewers), Pink Boots Society, and Society of Sensory Professionals (SSP). Scientific Societies simplifies the world of scientific associations so they can make the world a better place.

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