Manager, Governance and Business Advisor

Position OverviewThe Manager, Governance and Business Advising leads ROC USA’s team of Governance and Business Advisors, who coach the volunteer boards of resident-owned communities (ROCs) that ROC USA serves directly. The Manager is responsible for the quality, consistency, and efficiency of that support across a growing portfolio. That means hiring and developing advisors, assigning and balancing caseloads, setting service standards, and making sure every community gets the right level of support for its needs and risk. There are currently three Governance and Business Advisors supporting 24 ROCs. Most, 18 of the 24, came to ROC USA after their CTAP closed or stepped back. In those cases ROC USA serves as technical assistance provider of last resort. As the lender and steward of the model, it takes on the support a community needs when no one else can. These communities are often among the most complex in the portfolio, with interconnected governance, management, financial, and infrastructure challenges that take sustained, skilled coaching to resolve.

The Manager also carries a smaller portfolio of ROCs, often the most complex, coaching member-owner boards on governance, business planning, and compliance with their bylaws, loan obligations, and local and state requirements. Working closely with ROC USA Capital’s asset management and loan servicing teams, the Manager helps catch problems early and coordinates support when communities need more help. This is rewarding and demanding work: advisors often support communities through conflict, financial stress, and difficult decisions, and the Manager supports the advisors through all of it.

Key Responsibilities

Service Quality and Standards

• Bring together ROC USA’s existing tools, tiering, and risk indicators into one coherent service model: a defined baseline of support for every ROC, scaled to complexity and risk, with clear triggers for added help.
• Oversee delivery of that baseline (governance coaching, financial monitoring, and capital improvement plan oversight) to every ROC in the portfolio.
• Establish consistent standards, service plans, and tools for business planning, governance support, and compliance monitoring across the team.
• Review team work products, such as business plans, compliance tracking, and meeting documentation, for quality and accuracy. Use what you find to improve tools and training.
• Serve as the escalation point for advisors on difficult situations, including board conflict, compliance failures, financial distress, and communities.

Team Leadership and Development

• Recruit, hire, onboard, and train advisors, building a team with the skills a growing and increasingly complex portfolio requires.
• Supervise and coach advisors through regular one-on-ones, case reviews, and field visits. Set clear performance goals and give timely, candid feedback.
• Assign and balance caseloads based on each community’s complexity and risk and advise the SVP on staffing needs as the portfolio grows.
• Foster a collaborative, mission-driven team culture built on shared learning, peer support, and attention to workload and burnout.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with ROC USA Capital’s Asset Management and Loan Servicing teams, with clear ownership, shared information, and smooth handoffs when communities need escalated support.
• Support budget planning and management of grant and department funds, collaborating with Finance on annual budget development, monthly variance reviews, and forecasting.
• Coordinate with Acquisitions on the handoff of newly purchased ROCs, and with real estate and development specialists on infill, infrastructure, and capital projects.

Systems, Data, and Reporting

• Track and report on portfolio health, capital improvement performance, and advising outcomes to the SVP
• Serve as support in designing and adopting a Salesforce-based advising workflow, including intake, assignments, service plans, follow-up, documentation, and escalation.
• Ensure advisors keep community records current so early-warning indicators and portfolio reporting are reliable.
• Champion tools that reduce manual processes, centralize community information, and improve team efficiency.

Direct Community Advising

• Coach member-owner boards to create annual business plans with quarterly milestones covering infill, infrastructure repair and replacement, and compliance.
• Build board capacity through training on governance, fiduciary duties, member engagement, financial literacy, and bylaw and policy compliance.
• Help boards evaluate revenue opportunities such as infill, drawing on internal specialists to assess market viability, risk, and return on investment.
• Encourage boards to rely on qualified property managers, attorneys, and accountants to manage risk, stay compliant with applicable laws, and prevent volunteer burnout.
• Coach ROC boards toward meeting their lender and legal obligations on their own, including loan covenants, budgets, capital improvement plans, and required reporting.
• Maintain positive working relationships with municipal and state regulatory agencies, industry professionals, nonprofit partners, and internal/external stakeholders to further the affordable housing preservation mission of ROC USA.
• Support the facilitation of community meetings and presentations to ensure adherence to governance practices required to maintain the cooperative's legal status. This includes holding the board accountable for proper preparation, notification, documentation, parliamentary procedures, and accurate meeting minutes.

Equity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement

• Promote an inclusive culture by creating opportunities for all residents to actively participate in community decision-making processes, with attention to underrepresented groups within the community.
• Develop strategies to address barriers to participation for underrepresented groups, ensuring their voices are heard in governance and community activities.
• Encourage diverse representations on the Board and committees, ensuring leadership reflects the demographics of the community.
• Ensure cooperative policies and practices reflect a commitment to racial and social equity, aligning with best practices in diversity and inclusion.

Required Qualifications

• At least five years in cooperative business, property management, association management, community development, or a related field.
• At least three years supervising staff, including hiring, coaching, and managing performance.
• Experience reading and analyzing financial statements, including profit and loss statements, budgets, and balance sheets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, business, real estate, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Familiarity with federal and state funding programs for affordable housing or infrastructure.
• Conversational Spanish
• Experience with Salesforce or a comparable case management system, and with leading a team through new tools or processes.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Proven ability to lead and coach a team, hold people accountable, and build a supportive, high-performing culture.
• Sound judgment about priorities: knowing where staff time is best spent across a portfolio, and when to step in versus let advisors lead.
• Strong background in cooperative governance combined with experience in real estate, property management, or shared ownership community operations
• Ability to be relatable and develop trust of residents and stakeholders and continue to meet or exceed those stakeholders’ expectations to deepen trust and commitment of those we seek to serve.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks for multiple stakeholders with an understanding of basic corporate business functions and the core competencies of managing the business of a land lease community or rental property.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills, with experience in meeting facilitation and conflict mediation.
• Strong skills in documentation, problem-solving, data collection, analysis, and decision-making.
• Self-motivated and capable of working with minimal supervision, managing tight deadlines, and handling flexible schedules.
• The ability to provide coaching and guidance to varying educational levels and socio-economic pressures, while maintaining a professional and calm presence.
• Resilience and steadiness in emotionally demanding work. You can hold volunteer boards accountable through influence rather than authority, stay calm through conflict and crisis, and absorb pressure from communities, lenders, and your own team without passing it on.
• Comfort in the middle. You can represent member-owners’ interests to Asset Management and Lending, and lender expectations to boards, while keeping the trust of both.
• A sustainable approach to the work. You set boundaries, model healthy workload habits for your team, and know when to ask for help.
• An entrepreneurial, solutions-focused approach. You look for practical ways forward when the standard playbook doesn’t fit, and you help your team do the same.

Travel Requirements

• Travel up to 25% of the time to communities and to support team members in the field
• Availability to work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Valid driver’s license and access to reliable transportation.

ROC USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

ROC USA offers an excellent benefits package, including a comprehensive Health Plan (medical, dental, and vision), FSA, PTO, and an automatic 3% employer 401(k) contribution.

Conversational Spanish