Position Title: Vice President for Tribal Lands and Waters Stewardship
Reports to: Chief Impact Officer
Location: This position may work from our Portland, OR office or remotely within our region (must be located in Oregon, Washington, California, or Alaska). Regular travel to Portland and across the region is expected.
Salary Range: $120,000-$136,000
Posting Date: April 20, 2023
Application Deadline: May 21, 2023
Anticipated Start Date: Jul 5, 2023
Learn more about this position by attending an Information Session on May 10th @ noon Pacific – see bottom of posting
Overview
Who we are
Ecotrust creates and accelerates triple-bottom-line innovations to benefit our region and inspire the world. On the farm, at the coast, in the forest, and across our cities, we work in partnership towards an equitable, prosperous, climate-smart future. Since 1991, we have created durable change and sparked ideas across the globe. Ecotrust holds a deep commitment to equity and diversity as core principles integral to the work we do. As we add new members across all levels of the organization, we seek diverse perspectives and lived experiences that we believe foster learning, creativity, innovation, and equity. Learn more at Ecotrust.org.
Job Summary
The Vice President for Tribal Lands and Waters Stewardship is a core member of Ecotrust’s leadership. This role will center environmental justice, Indigenous knowledge systems, and racial equity across their work. They will provide leadership on strategy and fundraising efforts to strengthen and build a coherent body of work across Ecotrust programs to advance tribally-led stewardship of lands and waters. The VP will use their knowledge of tribal protocols, law, and policy to develop effective partnerships with tribes, intertribal organizations, and a variety of non-tribal entities to lead and enable meaningful actions to reverse the dispossession of tribal communities from their homelands. This work will include supporting land acquisition, capacity-building with tribal natural resource programs and enterprises, and catalyzing the development of management agreements that advance Indigenous stewardship of lands and waters. This position will also work alongside other staff to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led lands and waters work, particularly where it intersects with opportunities for tribally-led efforts.
This position is fully funded over the next two years, and partially funded beyond that timeframe (55% of funding for this role secured for next 3-5 years), by three grants related to climate-smart forestry and Indigenous forest stewardship. The VP is expected to offer leadership in tribal engagement and developing networks and partnerships in these projects with an emphasis on tribal forestry programs and enterprises. While this role may initially focus on Indigenous forest stewardship, it is expected that the VP will engage with supportive land and waters stewardship programs such as education, cultural, and economic development. This role is also expected to provide strategic leadership and support for other staff and programs at Ecotrust beyond the forestry team.
This is a full-time position and requires a regular presence at Ecotrust’s Portland office and travel throughout the region. A successful candidate may reside anywhere in the region (California, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington) if the candidate is able to visit the Portland office on a regular basis (at least once per month). This role is expected to involve regular travel throughout the region approximately 1-2 times per month.
Who you are
You are a collaborator, strategic thinker, fundraiser, and decision maker. You are an action-oriented, anti-racist, humble, and empathetic leader. You keep accountability and authentic, trusted relationships at the center of your work. You are able to lean into discomfort in navigating change and conflict and lead equitable decision making processes. You have experience mentoring, supervising, and uplifting others in a way that promotes belonging. You are deeply committed to environmental justice, and value a multi-generational, boundary-spanning approach that centers Indigenous lifeways and knowledge systems in lands and waters stewardship. You have a deep understanding of Indigenous communities and direct experience working with tribal natural resource programs and navigating the protection and use of traditional ecological knowledge along with mainstream natural resource management and sciences.
Primary Responsibilities
(The activities listed below represent the core functions of this position.)
- Providing leadership, strategy, and guidance to build out a coherent body of work across Ecotrust programs to advance tribal stewardship of lands and waters.
- Leading and supporting outreach and engagement efforts for diverse partnerships to advance tribal lands and waters stewardship.
- Supporting Ecotrust staff in building awareness and capacity to advance beneficial lands and waters stewardship priorities, including engagement with tribes, co-management agreements, and policy.
- Facilitate ongoing organization change to identify, strengthen, and build coherent bodies of work across Ecotrust programs that advance tribal and more broadly, lands and waters stewardship.
- Fundraising for organizational priorities and programming, including facilitating funding agreements (e.g., grants and contracts) with private foundations and corporations, individual donors, tribes, and public agencies.
- This role will supervise 2-4 direct reports and is responsible for providing opportunities for their growth and fostering a generative team dynamic. This role will also model the skills, empathy, and coaching capacity necessary to tap into the power that each member of the team brings to the mission. As the role and organization evolves, direct reports and team structure may shift.
Responsibilities and tasks outlined in this document are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the organization or employee.
Key Qualifications And Transferable Skills
Transferable skills may be gained through education, work experience (including the military) or life experience that are relevant for this position. Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for positions where they do not meet 100% of the listed skills and qualifications. Even if you do not meet all of the requirements described, if you believe you are a good fit for the position, we encourage you to apply. A candidate will be assessed on their ability to successfully fulfill or quickly learn these functions.
- 10 + years direct experience working with tribal natural resource programs (e.g., forestry, watershed management, fish and wildlife, first foods, or other relevant fields). Leadership experience strongly preferred.
- Strong working knowledge and experience with practical aspects of tribal law, policy, and government structures related to land and water stewardship, governance, and funding.
- Proven track-record for fundraising and managing significant private and/or government grants and contracts.
- 5+ years supervisory experience with medium-to-large teams (5-10+ people), with ability to provide mentorship, coaching, and skill-building support for direct reports.
- Experience planning and managing large complex budgets covering multiple projects and multi-year timelines.
- Strong reputation and existing network with tribal nations, intertribal organizations, other allied groups, and state and federal agencies.
- Demonstrated experience with and understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion and anti-racism work in theory and practice.
- Ability to deliver compelling presentations and public speeches, and to represent Ecotrust to various external working groups, committees, and organizations.
- Experience with strategic visioning involving anti-racist and belonging processes.
Other Useful Qualifications
(The items listed below represent qualifications that are desirable in a candidate, but are not required. Some of these may be gained through professional development and coaching once on board.)
- Familiarity or experience with tribal business development.
- Experience supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities in lands and waters stewardship outside of a tribal governance context.
- Existing network of grant fundraising contacts including agency and/or foundation funders.
- Existing network of business development contacts related to tribal entrepreneurship and investment.
- Lived experience (lived expertise) of social issues and/or injustices. Able to demonstrate using lived experience (expertise) to directly benefit the communities they share those experiences with.
- Strong awareness and/or direct experience scoping and developing agreements between public lands agencies and tribes following co-management and/or tribally-led approaches.
- Awareness of tribal research and development concerns including data sovereignty and co-production processes.
- Experience collaborating with tribal food sovereignty programs.
- Experience navigating organizational change and supporting teams through it.
Additional Information
This is a full-time, exempt position. This position is expected to require substantial travel, likely 1-2 times per month around the Pacific Northwest, including California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, including regular visits to the Portland office.
We believe great benefits make work better: Ecotrust offers equity-centered benefits that strive to recognize employees as whole people and prioritize their overall wellbeing. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance with employee contributions scaled to income, tax-deferred and Roth retirement plans with employer base contributions, term life insurance, and disability coverage. Ecotrust invests in employees’ professional development and personal growth. We also offer plentiful paid time off, retreats, and summer fun days.
Ecotrust is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that a diverse staff of qualified, highly-skilled, and creative individuals is necessary to achieve the vision and mission of the organization. Individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, or other People of Color, people who are queer, trans, non-binary, people with disabilities, people who are immigrants, people from poor and working class backgrounds, and people who are/have been system-impacted are strongly encouraged to apply.
Click to learn more about equity at Ecotrust.
Veterans’ Preference: Residents who qualify for veterans’ preference should send all required documentation to ssobell@ecotrust.org by the closing date of the posting.
Accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act: We gladly provide reasonable accommodation to anyone whose specific disability prevents them from completing an application or participating in this recruitment process. Please reach out to ssobell@ecotrust.org in advance to request assistance.
How to Apply: Apply via the application on this page. No cover letter is required. Instead, please answer the brief narrative questions provided in the application.
The Selection Process: In an effort to be as transparent as possible in our selection process as well as to help expedite bringing new staff on board, below is a timeline of key events:
Review of Resumes: May 22-23
Initial Screening Interviews (via phone): May 30-June 1
Second Round Interviews (via Zoom): June 5-6
Reference checks: June 7-8
Extend offer: June 13
While we will proactively communicate these dates and any changes to you throughout the process, please consider placing tentative holds on your calendars for the initial screening and face-to-face interviews.
Learn more about this position by attending an Information Session: Ecotrust is hosting an informational webinar about this position. You can call in to listen and ask questions.
Date: May 10th @ 12PM Pacific
Click this link to join the webinar:
Dial this number to join by phone and enter the webinar ID: +1 669 900 6833
Webinar ID: 814 8101 4176
We will record the session and post the recording to the job posting shortly afterwards.
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