Job Description

TITLE: Spring Creek Food Hub Executive Director

LOCATION: Springdale, Arkansas

CATEGORY: Non-Profit

JOB TYPE: Full-Time

ABOUT THE SPRING CREEK FOOD HUB

Spring Creek Food Hub (SCFH) is an emerging food hub in Northwest Arkansas that will connect farmers and community and put local food on local tables. SCFH will work to increase access to local agricultural products through aggregation and distribution to wholesale markets as well as directly to community members. As it provides education, technical assistance, and supply chain access for local farmers, SCFH will move food to where people eat, shop, work, and play, ensuring healthy food access for all Northwest Arkansans. SCFH’s ultimate goal is to improve the health of our region’s food system on economic, environmental, and community metrics.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Spring Creek Food Hub is seeking an experienced Executive Director (ED) to develop and lead this exciting new organization. It is seeking a candidate who can manage and execute on multiple levels simultaneously, building and leading a team committed to working closely with its suppliers, stakeholders, community, and funders. The ED will be the face of the organization, responsible for leading and executing the strategic direction of the organization while simultaneously working closely with external collaborators to lift the entire NWA food system.

A successful candidate is a skilled manager with proven ability to lead and motivate teams. They will have an entrepreneurial disposition and will create an environment for innovation and growth. They have experience managing food operations and sales as well as building long-term relationships with senior staff at organizations including institutional and wholesale buyers, community partners, and funders. The ideal candidate combines excellent leadership, team development, and communication skills with a strategic mindset and solid budget management skills.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversee all aspects of the organization, ensuring SCFH’s efficient operations and ability to meet its revenue targets and goals in food safety training, farmer education, and participation in charitable food access programs.
• Inform and implement a strategic business plan that builds the foundation and promote the mission and vision of the organization.
• Meet customer acquisition and revenue growth targets as a team, and build and expand the customer base and develop high visibility and impact within the food service sector in the region.
• Manage and oversee day-to-day activities including fundraising, sales, procurement, trucking, warehouse, facilities management and support functions. This will include developing an in-depth understanding of the technologies and processes used to manage the day-to-day operations.
• Build an effective management team by providing guidance and coaching, as well as modeling professionalism, effective communication and strong collaboration.
• Develop and maintain successful relationships with large food service, retail, wholesale and institutional buyers.
• Manage warehouse and trucking operations to ensure scalability and long-term growth.
• Manage and develop procurement team members to partner with our producers in developing strategic and mission-aligned capacity.
• Forge and maintain relations of trust with Board of Directors, project partners and philanthropic community.
• Direct and coordinate fundraising efforts with local donors.
• Act as the public speaker and public relations representative in ways that strengthen the organization’s profile locally.
• Manage the budget, including annual budget preparation, quarterly reporting to funders, and monthly analysis of profitability, revenues, and expenses.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum 5 years of applicable food-sector experience and at least 3 years of supervisory experience
• Experience working with perishables or agricultural industries and/or supply chain and wholesale food distribution.
• Preference for candidates with extensive knowledge of regional produce varieties.
• Ability to convey a vision of the organization’s strategic future to staff, board, customers, vendors and donors.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a small, start-up environment that is fast-paced and multi-faceted.
• Ability to learn new technology quickly, including sales, logistics, inventory and CRM platforms.
• Successful experience leading a team that generates revenue, consistently meeting or exceeding targets.
• Demonstrable hands-on budget management skills, including budget preparation, analysis, decision-making and reporting.
• End-to-end strategic planning experience spanning process development, organization, delegation/tasking, analysis, and presentation/reporting.
• Strong aptitude for verbal and written communication, presentation, public speaking and relationship development.
• Exhibits cultural awareness and experience of diversity, equity and inclusion processes.
• Interest in developing non-profit fundraising and donor relation strategies.
• BS/MS degree in business administration, nonprofit management or a related field

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Role performs tasks in both outdoor and indoor environments.
• Exposures encountered includes extreme cold, cleaning chemicals, warehouse operations equipment.
• Essential physical requirements include standing, sitting, typing, driving, speaking.
• Position will require operation of heavy equipment such as pallet jack, forklift, and other warehouse operations equipment.
• Physical effort/lifting including sedentary – up to 10 pounds; light – up to 20 pounds; medium – up to 50 pounds; and some heavy – over 50 pounds.
• Work periods include Monday through Friday, occasional weekends and nights, and available for after-hours emergency or on-call as a regular part of the job.
• Local and state travel requirements, as well as some some national travel requirements.

COMPENSATION

This expected salary for this position is $100K per year. In addition, the position will be eligible for the following benefits:

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Life insurance policy
• Paid holidays and paid time off.

How to Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Candidates should send an email with “Executive Director” in the subject line to: [email protected]. Please include the following information in your submission:

• Cover letter
• Resume

Qualified candidates will be contacted directly.

Spring Creek Food Hub provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. If you require a reasonable accommodation to view or apply to this position, please contact us via [email protected].

Job Categories: Sustainable Agriculture / Food. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 100,000 and above.

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