Full-Time Executive Director
Job Description
Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN) is seeking an Executive Director (ED) to shape the next chapter of PAN’s nearly 40 year history of working to end reliance on hazardous pesticides and to achieve health, resilience and justice in agriculture and the food system. The ED will strengthen PAN’s traditional fundraising strategies and spark new fundraising initiatives that increase the connections between PAN’s anti-pesticide work and the work of diverse movements in food, climate, health, and environmental justice. The ED will have a strong focus on fostering and maintaining relationships with community-based organizations that are on the frontlines of fighting against chemical intensive agriculture and who are facing further threats to their food systems from climate change. The ED will actively ensure that PAN’s values of justice are reflected in our internal decision-making processes, workplace culture, and our anti-oppression approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
ABOUT PAN
At PAN, we work to create a just, thriving food system and reclaim the future of food and farming. We are one of five regional centers worldwide that make up the PAN International Network. As PAN North America, we are accountable to the International Network (which includes Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Latin America) and our partners across the Global South. We establish partnerships with impacted communities, support grassroots and coalition organizing, and facilitate relationships and networks of partners and other allies to build a more powerful movement. Our focus is in the key agricultural states of California, Hawai’i, Iowa and Minnesota, as well as nationally and internationally. Please visit our website to learn more about our mission, vision and values.
PAN works with people on the frontlines of industrial agriculture and hazardous pesticides: farmworkers, small farmers, Black, Indigenous and people of color farmers and environmental justice communities, rural communities, Indigenous communities, and children. We recognize that accountability to these core constituencies must be woven into everything PAN does. Our vision, theory of change, strategic plan, and campaign plans center the priorities, decision-making and goals of these communities. In this way, leadership across race, class, gender, citizenship status, and from the Global South guide our work.
We strive to reflect our organizational values of Collaboration, Equity, and Solidarity both in our external relationships and internally at PAN. PAN recognizes and commits to being an anti-oppressive, anti-racist organization.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Executive Director is responsible for working collaboratively with staff across the organization to ensure the development, implementation and regular updates of PAN’s strategic plan, including both program strategy and resource development. The ED supports staff development and well being, drives continuous improvement of internal systems, and secures resources for long-term organizational health.
PAN has a staff of 18 and is organized into collaborative work teams and an overarching structure of “hubs”: Organizing, Grassroots Science, Communications, and Administration/Fundraising. The ED directly supervises the Managing Director, Communications Director, and the fundraising team. The Organizing and Grassroots Science hubs have a peer-to-peer supervisory structure, with general oversight by the ED but no direct reports. The position has the authority to hire, supervise, evaluate and terminate staff; manage the budget and make financial decisions; sign contracts; and carry out other executive-level decisions as appropriate. The ED is accountable to the Board of Directors.
Fundraising/Public Relations – 35%
- Represent PAN’s mission and vision, and build support from and collaborate with external partners, donors, and funders.
- Oversee and support the Foundation Partnerships Manager to maintain and expand a diversified revenue stream from government, private foundations, and individual donors.
- Oversee and support the Donor Associate and Donor Team to maintain and expand a diversified revenue stream from individual donors and business supporters.
Leadership and Management – 30%
- Ensure high quality programming, including a commitment to continual improvement and a focus on program outcomes.
- Invigorate the unifying vision with attention to PAN’s theory of change and organizational values.
- Inspire and engage board, staff and volunteers by sharing the vision and nurturing the professional development and collegiality of staff.
- Encourage transparency and input from all levels of the staff.
- Promote a thriving, engaged workplace that utilizes shared and flexible leadership models to support the needs of all staff, and regular assessments of how well we are working together.
- Leads the development of an organizational working and operational culture that fully integrates the commitment to anti-oppression, equity and inclusion.
Governance and Strategy – 20%
- Support PAN’s strategic planning process, with significant input from the board, staff and key partners and stakeholders.
- Ensure that the organization has a long-range strategy to fulfill its mission through programs, organizationals and revenue development, and community outreach.
- Partner effectively with the board to ensure organization’s viability and adherence to the mission.
- Oversee the organization’s execution of the strategic plan.
- Ensure PANNA’s active engagement in the PAN International network’s strategic growth, development and resourcing.
Finance and Administrative – 15%
- Support the development of the organization’s annual budget.
- Work with the Managing Director and Management Team to oversee the critical business functions for the organization, including finance, HR, and legal compliance.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
- At least four years of senior leadership experience in nonprofits.
- Success cultivating a variety of funding streams including foundations, business sponsors, and individual donors.
- Collaborative people skills including empathetic listening, honesty and transparency, clear communication and flexibility.
- Experience overseeing nonprofit business functions, including finance, HR, legal compliance, and program oversight.
- Effective public speaker and powerful storyteller, and willingness to represent the organization with donors, foundations, partners, policymakers and other key audiences.
- Experience with anti-oppression work, including on both personal and organizational levels.
- Progressive management experience supervising staff in various roles throughout the organization.
- Commitment to PAN’s dedication to salary equity.
DESIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
- Experience overseeing a budget of $2 million or more, or strong evidence of a capacity to oversee a budget of that size in the absence of experience.
- Familiarity with participatory budgeting and coordinating staff involvement in budget processes.
- Experience developing a strong partnership with a Board of Directors.
- Experience organizing, campaigning, researching or working in the field(s) of sustainable agriculture, food systems, or climate change.
- Experience with a remote work-team model.
- Demonstrated experience as a thought leader in national and international arenas, through both written word and public speaking.
- Experience with shared leadership models or collaborative decision- making, and supportive approaches to personnel supervision and human resource management.
- Multilingual proficiency (other than English, Spanish and French are the most frequently used languages in PAN’s program work)
Studies have shown that BIPOC, trans, non-binary, and women jobseekers are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single one of the qualifications as described in a job description. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with each qualification in the job description, please apply anyway. You might be just the right candidate for this role.
COMPENSATION
Starting salary is $125,000/year. PAN offers excellent health, dental and vision insurance (100% for employee premium/up to 75% for dependents); a 403(b) retirement plan; vacation and sick leave; and flexible scheduling. Our generous benefits package reflects our commitment to the health and well
being of all staff members, contributing to both work-life balance and long term organizational sustainability.
PAN’s commitment to equity is reflected in our salary schedule, with the goal that every staff member earns a living wage and has predictable annual salary increases, and that the spread between the highest and lowest paid staff member is 2.5 to 1 (or less). Our salary equity approach is a practical demonstration of our organizational values.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
PAN North America is headquartered in Berkeley, CA with additional staff in Florida, Hawaiʻi, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington. The Executive Director will be adept at supporting a remote team across time zones and will be expected to travel to in-person meetings with the board, staff, and donors on a periodic basis. This position can be based either inside or outside of California, but must be US-based. Proximity to current staff is preferred but not required.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
PAN has staff from across a spectrum of racial, class and gender identities, and is committed to a culture of inclusion and anti-oppression within our organization and our work. We are seeking applicants from a wide variety of ethnic, racial and social backgrounds for this position. People of color, people with roots in the Global South, people of diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and those from frontline and directly impacted communities are especially encouraged to apply. PAN does not discriminate against applicants or employees for reasons of race, color, disability, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, genetic information, marital status, prior convictions, incarceration or age.
How to Apply
Please send a resume, cover letter and one relevant writing sample in PDF format to jobpost@panna.org. Please include your name in the subject line and use the following format: "[Your Name]: PAN Executive Director Search."
Your cover letter should (1) describe how your skills and experience align with the position and (2) your passion for PAN North America’s mission, vision, and values. Applications without a cover letter and writing sample will not be considered.
ED Search Timeline:
Close date for applications: July 21, 2023. Earlier applicants may receive priority consideration, as we will review applications on a rolling basis.
Ideal anticipated start: October 2023.
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