Associate Strategic Manager

Associate Strategic Manager

Executive Committee Officer – Distributed Strategic Capacity

Reports to: Board of Directors, through the Executive Committee

Job Family: Executive Governance & Strategic Stewardship

Term of Service: Five (5) years; renewable once, per bylaws

Location: Governance role; no operational duty station required

Role Overview

The Associate Strategic Manager is an Executive Committee officer responsible for expanding strategic capacity, diversity of perspective, and analytical depth within Celestial Point Inc.’s governance system.

This role formally recognizes that no single perspective can adequately steward a complex, multi‑bioregional organization. The Associate Strategic Manager strengthens governance quality by contributing informed analysis, contextual insight, and disciplined inquiry to Executive Committee deliberation.

The role governs strategic intelligence and learning, not operations. Authority is exercised through participation, analysis, and principled questioning within fiduciary governance.

Role Context: Executive Committee Governance

The Associate Strategic Manager is a full Executive Committee participant, not an observer, advisor, or alternate.

Within the governance system, this role:

• Participates fully in Executive Committee deliberation
• Contributes focused insight, analysis, and contextual understanding
• Strengthens decision‑making through plurality of thought
• Complements—but does not duplicate—the Strategic Manager

The role does not manage staff, programs, or execution. Influence is exercised through governance participation and collective judgment.

Core Mandate

Strengthen the Executive Committee’s strategic intelligence and organizational learning capacity.

This mandate emphasizes insight, inquiry, and perspective diversity as essential components of sound long‑term governance.

Core Responsibilities

1. Strategic Analysis & Insight

• Contribute disciplinary, regional, lived‑experience, or systems‑based perspectives to governance deliberation.
• Support evaluation of complex, high‑stakes, or long‑horizon decisions.
• Assist in identifying second‑order effects, unintended consequences, and blind spots.
• Participate in synthesis of learning across portfolios, regions, and time horizons.

1. Support to Strategic Governance

• Engage in scenario exploration and structured strategic questioning.
• Support long‑term thinking under uncertainty and complexity.
• Contribute to institutional learning by challenging assumptions and surfacing alternative frames.
• Strengthen the Executive Committee’s capacity to reason across competing signals and incomplete information.

Authority & Decision Rights

The Associate Strategic Manager holds:

• Full Executive Committee deliberative and voting authority
• Authority to question, recommend, and dissent in good faith
• Equal responsibility for governance integrity within the Committee

Authority is participatory and fiduciary, exercised collectively rather than unilaterally.

Role Constraints

The Associate Strategic Manager does not:

• Direct operations or staff
• Exercise unilateral authority
• Override fiduciary or governance process
• Substitute for executive or managerial leadership

Qualifications & Readiness Indicators

Demonstrated Readiness (Required)

This role requires evidence of:

• Strong analytical judgment and capacity for synthesis
• Intellectual humility paired with confidence to inquire and challenge
• Willingness to learn, adapt, and revise viewpoints
• Comfort engaging complex issues without premature closure
• Commitment to governance service and collective stewardship
• Ability to dissent constructively without disruption

Education & Experience (Preferred)

• Experience in governance, strategy, policy, research, community leadership, or systems‑level work.
• Familiarity with complex organizational, ecological, social, or institutional systems.
• Experience contributing insight rather than managing execution.

Formal credentials support readiness but do not substitute for demonstrated judgment, curiosity, and disciplined participation.

Governance Commitment: Give‑or‑Get Policy

As an Executive Committee officer, the Associate Strategic Manager participates in Celestial Point Inc.’s Give‑or‑Get Policy.

This role includes a $1,000 annual Give‑or‑Get commitment, fulfilled through personal giving, fundraising, donor engagement, advocacy, or other Board‑approved pathways.

The expectation is 100% participation, not uniform financial capacity. Participation is a condition of service and reflects shared fiduciary stewardship.

Conditions of Success

Success is demonstrated by:

• Higher quality strategic deliberation
• Reduced blind spots in governance decisions
• Decisions informed by plural, well‑integrated perspectives
• Strong learning signals within Executive Committee practice

Failure is indicated by:

• Passive participation
• Deference without inquiry
• Strategic groupthink
• Abdication of analytical responsibility

Removal for Cause

Consistent with the bylaws, removal may occur for:

• Ethical breach
• Chronic non‑participation
• Conflicts of interest
• Actions that undermine governance integrity or fiduciary trust

Why This Role Matters

The Associate Strategic Manager exists to ensure that governance intelligence is distributed, not concentrated.

This role strengthens the Executive Committee’s ability to think well together—across difference, uncertainty, and time—so that Celestial Point Inc. makes decisions that are sound, legitimate, and durable.