Program Manager: Governance & Strategic Initiatives

The Program Manager owns AO NA's governance operations, from volunteer onboarding through board meeting execution, and serves as the Executive Director's (ED) primary partner in running the organization's leadership infrastructure. The role also manages membership planning with Marketing, leads fundraising strategy and implementation, manages special projects, and administers AO NA's Conflict of Interest program.

The program manager role provides on-going operational leadership across governance, membership, fundraising, special projects, and compliance, requiring sound judgment and discretion in managing confidential board, volunteer, and donor matters.

The person in this role moves fluidly between hands-on drafting and administrative work (updating the AMS, tracking a budget line, prepping a disclosure form) and higher-level strategy (setting the fundraising plan). Day to day, this looks like drafting board agendas and chasing down materials one week, building a volunteer onboarding packet the next, and sitting with Marketing to shape a membership campaign the week after that. No two weeks in this role look the same, as responsibilities shift based on organizational priorities, board and volunteer needs, fundraising activity, compliance deadlines, and special projects.

Essential Functions

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Governance

• • Manage Board of Directors and Executive Council meetings from start-to- finish: agendas, materials, venues, travel, minutes, follow-up; manage leadership portal.
  • Manage special committees: rosters, meeting cadence, agendas, minutes, action items.
  • Serve as staff liaison to select committee chairs.
  • Support the nominating committee process and manage the election administration for all elections.
  • Build and maintain volunteer onboarding/offboarding materials, training resources, and annual leadership communications.
  • Maintain governance policies, procedures, reference materials, and documents under guidance of senior leadership.
• Develop and distribute volunteer calls for nominations, appointment letters, thank-you letters, and certificates.
• Maintain accurate governance data in the Association Management System (AMS) including terms, appointments, and election outcomes.
  • Develop and implement a volunteer recognition program.
• Serve as a point of contact for governance-related inquiries and assist with communications between leadership and staff.

Membership

• • Develop the annual membership plan, in conjunction with the Marketing Team and the AO Foundation.
  • Implement the plan directly and through the team; guide messaging development.
  • Create membership performance reports.

Fundraising

• • Develop and implement AO NA's fundraising strategy.
  • Manage campaigns and donor communications.
  • Develop and implement a donor recognition plan.
  • Create fundraising performance reports.

Conflict of Interest (COI)

• • Run the annual COI disclosure process: distribution, tracking, follow-up with the related committees, and related communications.
  • Maintain COI records.

Administrative Responsibilities:

• Track and forecast assigned budgets; coordinate with Finance on updates.
• Maintain governance and special program web pages and ensure timely updates.
• Partner with Marketing with the development and distribution of AO NA’s annual report.
• Support document control practices to ensure confidentiality and accuracy.
• Coordinate regular communications with leadership and staff to ensure timely information flow.
• Support special initiatives and partnership as assigned

Competencies:

• Professionalism, integrity, and strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information.
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication abilities.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Service-oriented mindset with a collaborative approach.
• Proficiency in MS Office and database systems.
• Commitment to continuous learning and best practices.
• Project management mindset with an understanding of the difference between projects and on-going programs and initiatives.

Work environment:

The work environment is standard indoor office environment. If working remotely, a home office must be ergonomically correct, away from noise and distraction, and able to access high-speed internet consistently.

Evening conference calls and weekend meetings are required to support surgeons’ schedules and programming.

Physical demands

The physical demands are standard office environment: sitting, standing, keyboarding, reading, and walking. Some moderate lifting for receiving and packing event materials.

Travel required

AO NA operates in a results-only work environment and allows for a distributed workforce. This position requires the employee to be in the office as needed for training, meetings, and events. Travel for the work environment is standard airline travel and hotel/convention center indoor environments. A valid passport is required for any international travel.

Required education and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, business administration, public administration, or related field, or equivalent of education and experience.
• 3-5 years’ experience working in a nonprofit environment.
• 3-5 years of project coordination or project management experience.
• Experience supporting volunteer or governance structures preferred.

Preferred education and experience

• Project Management Professional (PMP) or similar training/in progress.
• Exposure to governance practices or association management.
• Certified Association Executive (CAE) coursework or interest in pursuing.

Other duties

Please note that this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time, with or without notice.

Medical, Dental, Vision, HRA, FSA, Life insurance, Disability plans, voluntary plans, Generous PTO including additional week at end of year, hybrid-remote working environment, diversity & Inclusion committee, employee resource group, professional development opportunities and tuition reimbursement.

English-fluent written and oral.