Job Description: President / CEO
The Presidential Search Committee invites nominations for the position of president of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).
Founded in 1923 and based in New York City, with several project offices overseas, the SSRC is an independent, not-for-profit, international organization that advances social research for the benefit of societies. Its activities include interdisciplinary research, workshops and conferences, fellowships and summer training institutes, and a wide array of scholarly exchanges. In collaboration with several hundred US and internationally based researchers, policymakers, professionals, activists, and others from the private and public sectors, a staff of approximately eighty develops and implements the Council’s programs while working to strengthen research capacities in the United States and abroad. The SSRC shares knowledge with various publics and decision-making groups through publications and other communications.
The president and chief executive officer of the SSRC is responsible for organizational leadership, fiscal health, and the extension of the SSRC’s vision, mission, and goals at the highest level. Working in partnership with the executive director, who is the Council’s chief operating officer, the president is responsible for defining organizational and programmatic direction, bringing the Council’s convening power to bear, and communicating the goals, mission, accomplishments, and research findings of the organization and its programs. As a respected and creative intellectual, the president engages various communities of scholarship and practice, foundations, government and international agencies, and public fora to harness the power of the social sciences and the SSRC itself to make a difference in addressing contemporary challenges around the world.
The president leads, guides, and mentors a diverse staff of professional social scientists. S/he supports staff in raising program-specific funds and achieving programmatic goals and is supported by staff in developing new initiatives. The president works to increase the Council’s institutional capacities through the cultivation of productive relationships with people of diverse interests and affiliations, including foundation and federal funding and private gifts; superintends the basic features of the budget, especially fundraising to meet core operating costs; and envisions new program directions. The president reports to the SSRC Board of Directors.
The president of the Council should be a distinguished social scientist dedicated to scholarly, programmatic, and institutional innovation. S/he will possess a wide range of intellectual interests, an appreciation for different scholarly approaches, and the capacity to connect, collaborate, and facilitate across diverse geographic, institutional, and intellectual boundaries. The Council’s president must also be an energetic fundraiser, a skilled speaker, and an able representative of the social sciences and their contributions to the public interest.
Review of nominations will begin immediately; the position will begin Fall 2012.
Nominations should be sent to: Presidential Search Committee, pressearch@ssrc.org.
The Social Science Research Council is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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