Chief Strategy Officer

Oakland Promise seeks an inaugural Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to help lead the organization through a pivotal period of growth, complexity, and opportunity.

To meet this moment, Oakland Promise is investing in its leadership capacity by creating two inaugural executive positions: Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Together, these leaders will help strengthen organizational capacity, build the leadership infrastructure and performance systems necessary to drive execution and accountability, and position Oakland Promise for its next decade of growth, impact, and influence.

Reporting directly to CEO Sandra Ernst, the CSO will serve as a key member of the executive team, helping to guide and advance strategic initiatives across Oakland Promise's programs, partnerships, and grant-making efforts. This is an exceptional opportunity for a visionary, execution-oriented leader to help shape the future of one of Oakland's most ambitious and influential organizations dedicated to expanding educational opportunities and economic mobility for children, youth, and families.

Oakland Promise emerged from a bold civic vision: that every child in Oakland, regardless of circumstance, should have access to the resources and supports needed to thrive from birth through college, career, and beyond. Recognizing that educational attainment is among the strongest predictors of economic mobility, community leaders came together to build an organization that would combine direct support for students and families with broader investments designed to expand opportunity and improve outcomes across Oakland.

This work was supported through both public and private investment. Alongside significant philanthropic fundraising efforts, community leaders secured voter approval of Measure AA, establishing a long-term source of public funding for Oakland children and families and laying the groundwork for future community-wide initiatives. As the organization's ambitions, assets, and responsibilities grew, leaders recognized the opportunity to establish a stronger and more sustainable independent institution. That opportunity culminated in the 2019 merger between Oakland Promise and East Bay College Fund. The merger combined Oakland Promise's citywide cradle-to-career approach with East Bay College Fund's longstanding expertise in college access, persistence, mentoring, and scholarship support, creating a single organization capable of supporting students across the educational continuum. Widely regarded as a mission-driven success, the merger reflected a shared commitment to community impact rather than organizational identity. The result was a stronger organization, uniquely positioned to support Oakland students at every stage of their educational journey.

Today, Oakland Promise's mission is to mobilize Oakland to expand opportunity and economic mobility through cradle-to-college and career achievement. By 2030, the organization aims to place 50,000 Oakland youth on the path to postsecondary attainment.

Build a High-Performing Executive Leadership Team

As Oakland Promise enters its second decade, one of the organization's most significant priorities is strengthening executive leadership capacity. The creation of the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer roles reflects a deliberate effort to build the leadership infrastructure needed to support this more complex and influential organization.

Working with the CEO, the CSO and COO will foster a culture of shared leadership, effective decision-making, excellence, and clear accountability. Success will require strengthening cross-functional collaboration, encouraging leaders to operate from an organization-wide perspective, and ensuring that Oakland Promise has the talent and management practices necessary to support its growing scale, complexity, and ambitions.

Help Oakland Promise Fully Embrace Its Role as a Backbone Organization

Over the past decade, Oakland Promise has evolved from a college access initiative and direct service provider into a multi-faceted organization that also serves as an implementation partner, grant-maker, convener, and steward of public investment. As a result, the organization's impact increasingly depends not only on the programs it delivers directly, but also on its ability to successfully influence and support a broader ecosystem of partners working on behalf of Oakland children and families. The CSO will play an integral role in leading this organizational evolution. A central challenge will be supporting staff, board members, and external stakeholders in embracing a broader understanding of Oakland Promise's role and mobilizing collective action in support of community-wide goals.

Shape Oakland Promise’s Long-Term Strategy and Community Impact

As Oakland Promise's programs, partnerships, and investments continue to expand, the organization has an opportunity to strengthen alignment across its direct service, grantmaking, convening, and implementation efforts and clarify where it can have the greatest impact in the years ahead The CSO will serve as a thought partner to the CEO, Board, and executive team, helping to assess emerging opportunities, identify evolving community needs, and shape Oakland Promise’s long-term strategic direction. This leader will help the organization determine where to invest its energy and resources, how to build on its unique strengths, and what new approaches may be necessary to achieve greater outcomes for Oakland children, youth, and families. Success will require balancing innovation with disciplined execution, deepening partnerships, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and helping Oakland Promise identify opportunities to become a model for how communities support educational attainment,

workforce development, and economic mobility. Equally important, the CSO will help translate vision into action. Working closely with leaders across the organization, this leader will help align people and resources around strategic priorities, develop actionable plans, and ensure that initiatives across the organization reinforce one another.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

• A deep commitment to advancing educational opportunity, economic mobility, and equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families.
• Significant senior leadership experience helping complex organizations navigate growth, transformation, increasing scale, and/or organizational change.
• Demonstrated success shaping organizational strategy and translating vision into action, establishing clear goals and expectations, and driving execution in service of mission delivery and community impact.
• A track record of building, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams while fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, learning, trust, and shared ownership.
• Experience establishing accountability, performance management, and decision-making practices that align people, resources, and organizational activities with desired outcomes.
• Skilled at using data, evidence, and continuous learning to inform decision-making, assess organizational effectiveness, and guide strategic priorities.
• Ability to align programs, partnerships, grantmaking, and stakeholders around shared priorities and drive collective action in service of community-wide goals.
• Experience serving as a convener, facilitator, coalition builder, or partnership leader, bringing together diverse constituencies to advance common objectives and strengthen cross-sector collaboration.
• Experience leading through influence in complex ecosystems involving public agencies, school districts, community-based organizations, philanthropy, higher education institutions, employers, and other stakeholders.
• Familiarity with collective impact, place-based change efforts, ecosystem building, grant-making, public-private partnerships, or other collaborative models that require organizations to work toward shared community outcomes.
• While familiarity with Oakland and its communities is welcome, the organization is equally interested in candidates who demonstrate an ability to build trust and credibility quickly, navigate complex stakeholder dynamics, forge productive relationships across diverse constituencies, and lead with both humility and conviction in service of the community.
• A seasoned, values-driven leader with resilience, emotional intelligence, sound judgment, strong interpersonal instincts, and the leadership presence to inspire confidence, build alignment, and lead effectively through change and ambiguity.

LOCATION AND COMPENSATION

Oakland Promise is a place-based organization located in Oakland, California. It is a requirement that all staff reside within commuting distance to the main office, located at 484 9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607.

Oakland Promise anticipates a salary range of $220,000 to $240,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications, along with a competitive benefits package.

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES, AND NOMINATIONS

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and resumes along with letters of interest should be sent via the Isaacson, Miller website. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, participate in an interview, or otherwise take part in the selection process, please contact Harley Bartles at hbartles@imsearch.com.

Oakland Promise is a place-based organization located in Oakland, California. Oakland Promise requires that employees work in person at various engagements. It is a requirement that all staff reside within commuting distance to the main office, located at 484 9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Please note that at any time, a full in-person work plan may be required, and it is of utmost importance that all staff are able to meet this requirement. Oakland Promise is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Oakland Promise is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and disrespectful or other unprofessional conduct based on sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), sex stereotype, race, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), color, gender (including gender identity, gender expression, and transgender),

national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver's license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, sexual orientation, military, and veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law or ordinance or regulation. It also prohibits discrimination, harassment, disrespectful or unprofessional conduct based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics, or is specialist with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.

Compensation & Benefits

• Full-time exempt role
• Hiring range for this role is
• $220,000–$240,000, based on skill sets and experience
• Competitive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision
• 401(k) with employer match
• Generous paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Hybrid work environment, with required three days in-person out of our Oakland office
• Occasional evening and weekend hours required for some events

English