Executive Director, Experience and Engagement

Job Posting Location:

Claremont, CA

Job Posting Title:

Job Description:

ABOUT POMONA COLLEGE: Located near Los Angeles, California, Pomona College is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. Established in 1887, Pomona College is known for small classes, a challenging curriculum, close relationships between students and faculty, and a range of student research and leadership opportunities. Pomona is a member of The Claremont Colleges.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Executive Director of Engagement and Experience provides strategic leadership for Pomona College's alumni engagement, family engagement, volunteer leadership, constituent experience, and institutional events portfolio. Reporting to the Chief Experience and Engagement Officer and serving as a member of the Experience and Engagement Leadership Team, this position is responsible for designing and advancing a comprehensive engagement ecosystem that fosters lifelong connections between the College and its constituents while advancing institutional, campaign, and philanthropic goals. The Executive Director will set clear and measurable goals leading the efforts to create and sustain strong value connections for constituents across the state, country, and around the world.

This role serves as a lead architect of constituent engagement and experience strategies that deepen affinity, strengthen belonging, increase participation, cultivate volunteer leaders, and create pathways to philanthropy. The Executive Director oversees Alumni and Family Engagement and the Office of College Events, ensuring alignment between engagement strategy and the experiences that shape constituent relationships with the College.

At a pivotal moment in the College's history and on the eve of a comprehensive campaign, the Executive Director will lead efforts to advance engagement practices; strengthen alumni, family, and volunteer engagement; expand constituent participation; elevate institutional events and traditions; and implement measurable, data-informed strategies that advance the College's long-term goals. This highly motivated and collaborative leader will contribute to the success of the Advancement division by increasing alumni and family engagement through the strategic use of CASE Alumni Engagement Metrics and other industry best practices.

The Executive Director provides strategic leadership for a portfolio that includes alumni engagement, family engagement, student-to-alumni transition initiatives, volunteer leadership, campus traditions, institutional events, regional engagement, campaign events, donor experiences, external event partnerships, and constituent experience design across the engagement lifecycle. As a senior leader within Advancement, the Executive Director works collaboratively across the College to create meaningful opportunities that increase engagement, strengthen loyalty and belonging, and build lifelong relationships that support the institution's mission and philanthropic priorities.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Strategic Leadership and Vision

• In partnership with the CEEO, develop and implement a multi-year engagement and experience strategy aligned with institutional priorities, campaign goals, and Advancement objectives.

• Serve as a leader within Advancement and the Experience and Engagement team, helping shape the College’s constituent engagement vision.

• Advance innovative, constituent-centered engagement and experience programs that strengthen lifelong relationships and institutional affinity.

• Establish goals, performance measures, and assessment frameworks to evaluate participation, experience quality, volunteer engagement, and overall impact.

• Monitor emerging trends and best practices in engagement, volunteer leadership, constituent experience, and events management.

• Design engagement pathways that move constituents from connection to participation, volunteer leadership, and philanthropy.

• Establish standards for hospitality, accessibility, inclusion, and service excellence across engagement programs and events.

• Lead a culture of assessment and continuous improvement through the strategic use of data, constituent feedback, CASE Alumni Engagement Metrics, and performance reporting to measure impact, inform decision-making, and advance institutional goals.

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing engagement and events team by establishing clear priorities, promoting professional growth, and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and service.

• Provide strategic oversight of departmental budgets, staffing, resource allocation, and operational planning to ensure organizational effectiveness and achievement of institutional goals.

• Work collaboratively with the Advancement Communications Team to support the strategy and development of print and digital communications that support programming and strategic objectives.

Alumni and Family Engagement Leadership

• Provide strategic oversight of the College’s alumni, family, volunteer, and student-to-alumni engagement programs and initiatives.

• Develop and execute integrated engagement strategies that increase participation, strengthen affinity and belonging, expand volunteer leadership, and support lifelong engagement and philanthropic readiness.

• Serve as advisor, chief budget officer, and Treasurer of the Alumni Association Board and other volunteer leadership groups, ensuring their work advances institutional priorities and campaign objectives.

• Oversee reunions, affinity programs, regional engagement, mentoring, networking opportunities, lifelong learning initiatives, volunteer programs, and other signature engagement experiences.

• Develop and strengthen volunteer pathways that support mentoring, career engagement, admissions, campaign participation, ambassadorship, and philanthropy, while building sustainable leadership pipelines and succession plans.

• Partner with colleagues across Advancement and the College to create seamless pathways from student engagement to alumni engagement and strengthen lifelong connections to Pomona.

• Expand meaningful family engagement opportunities and alumni-student connections through networking, mentoring, professional development, and experiential learning opportunities.

• Ensure care and stewardship of the College’s Seaver Alumni House facilities.

Office of College Events Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the Office of College Events and the College’s comprehensive events portfolio, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities, academic objectives, and the Pomona College mission.

• Lead the development of a campus-wide events and experience strategy that advances the College’s educational mission, strengthens community, elevates constituent experiences, and enhances Pomona’s reputation among internal and external audiences.

• Leverage the College’s events portfolio as a strategic platform for advancing Pomona’s academic mission, strengthening community, building institutional affinity, enhancing visibility and reputation, and creating meaningful connections among students, families, alumni, faculty, staff, community members, and external partners.

• Partner with academic and administrative departments, faculty, senior leaders, and campus stakeholders to design meaningful experiences and support programs, conferences, lectures, ceremonies, traditions, and special events that enrich the intellectual, cultural, and community life of the College.

• Oversee the successful execution of major institutional events, including Commencement, Family Weekend, Alumni Weekend, Founders Day, presidential and trustee events, campaign events, donor experiences, academic conferences, and other signature programs.

• Establish and maintain standards for hospitality, accessibility, inclusion, service excellence, budget stewardship, and operational effectiveness that ensure a consistent and exceptional Pomona experience across all events and programs.

• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, assessment, and continuous improvement, utilizing feedback and performance measures to strengthen event effectiveness, audience experience, and institutional impact.

Revenue-Generating Events and External Partnerships

• Provide strategic oversight of conference services, facility rentals, filming opportunities, and external partnerships that generate revenue while supporting the College’s mission, priorities, and stewardship of campus resources.

• In partnership with the Director of the Office of College Events and campus stakeholders, develop and execute growth strategies that expand earned revenue through conferences, rentals, filming opportunities, and external partnerships while preserving the integrity of the academic environment and campus experience.

• Ensure achievement of annual earned-revenue goals and identify opportunities to strengthen community visibility, institutional partnerships, and the College’s reputation through thoughtfully aligned external engagements.

• Evaluate and pursue strategic opportunities that balance revenue generation, mission alignment, constituent experience, and long-term institutional value.

Campaign and Advancement Integration

• Partner with Advancement leadership to develop engagement strategies that support campaign goals and institutional priorities.

• Create experiences and participation opportunities that increase campaign visibility, volunteer leadership, donor engagement, and community involvement.

• Collaborate across Development, Annual Giving, Reunion Giving, Stewardship, and Advancement Communications to strengthen the engagement-to-philanthropy pipeline.

Other Duties

• Represent the College at institutional, professional, and community events.

• Participate in committees, initiatives, and special projects as assigned.

• Perform other duties in support of the mission and strategic goals of the College.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required. Master’s degree is preferred.

• Licenses/Certificates: A valid driver’s license is required or equivalent means of reliable transportation to off-site meetings and events.

• Experience: A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in alumni relations, constituent engagement, advancement, events management, higher education administration, nonprofit leadership, or a related field is required.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND CRITICAL SKILLS:

The Executive Director, Engagement and Experience must possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the essential functions of the position, or be able to demonstrate how the essential functions will be performed, with or without reasonable accommodation, using other skills and abilities not listed below.

• Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to the mission, values, and distinctive strengths of a highly selective liberal arts college, with the ability to communicate and champion that mission to a wide range of internal and external constituencies.

• Exceptional leadership, relationship-building, and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to inspire, influence, and collaborate with employees, volunteers, alumni, families, donors, trustees, faculty, staff, students, and community partners. Must possess outstanding verbal and written communication skills and the ability to navigate complex and confidential matters with sound judgment, discretion, diplomacy, and professionalism.

• Demonstrated strategic and systems-thinking abilities, including the capacity to develop long-term plans, align resources with institutional priorities, manage organizational change, and translate vision into measurable outcomes. Ability to build consensus, foster collaboration, and lead across organizational boundaries in support of institutional and divisional goals.

• Knowledge of constituent engagement, volunteer leadership, events management, advancement, and relationship-building best practices, including a strong understanding of how engagement and constituent experience contribute to institutional affinity, participation, volunteerism, and philanthropy.

• Ability to establish a culture of assessment, accountability, and continuous improvement through the effective use of data, constituent feedback, industry benchmarks, and performance metrics, including CASE Alumni Engagement Metrics and other measures of engagement and organizational effectiveness.

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing high-performing teams, including talent development, organizational design, budget management, resource allocation, and operational planning. Ability to foster an inclusive, service-oriented culture focused on excellence, innovation, collaboration, and results.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and relevant engagement, event management, CRM, and reporting technologies, including Salesforce and related constituent engagement platforms. Demonstrated ability to leverage technology to improve processes, enhance constituent experiences, assess outcomes, and support strategic decision-making.

• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, balance strategic and operational responsibilities, meet deadlines, and adapt effectively in a dynamic environment while maintaining a high standard of integrity and ethical leadership.

REQUIRED HOURS: 

To be confirmed based on the final FLSA classification and approved work schedule. Holiday, weekend, evening work, and travel may be required based on the needs of the College or division.

ADDITIONAL POSITION DETAILS:  This position is a regular, full-time, exempt position. Annual Salary for this position is between $180,000 - $205,000 with a competitive benefits package. The specific factors that the College will consider when offering a salary to an individual will include, but not be limited to: education, training, relevant prior experience, and performance in prior roles. All staff positions are ineligible for visa or permanent resident card sponsorship. As a California employer, Pomona College requires all employees to be residents of California.

ADA/OSHA: This job description defines the essential job duties of this position.  The College expects that employees hired for this position can perform the essential functions of this job without imposing risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of themselves or others.  It may also include marginal functions, generally defined within Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

DISCLAIMER: This job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification.  It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this position.  When duties and responsibilities change and develop, the College will review this job description and make changes of business necessity.