A newly created role aimed at increasing NRDC’s internal effectiveness and external impact, the chief capacities officer (CCO) will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for all of our capacity areas, including Center for Policy Advocacy (CPA), Communications, Science, and the Environment, Equity & Justice Center. This new position will leverage the core capabilities of NRDC, situated within each center of excellence, against the policy goals set by the organization, strategically deploying NRDC capacity resources. The CCO will be internally and externally focused, serving as a proxy for the president at various external events in addition to fundraising responsibilities in partnership with Development.

Capacities Strategy and Management

• Work with and support the team at NRDC, defining, building, and delivering NRDC’s capacity to achieve the greatest results against our organizational goals.
• Co-chair NRDC’s Advocacy Committee, which helps decide and drive advocacy goals for the organization (with the chief program officer serving as the other co-chair).
• Oversee the following core advocacy capabilities and centers of excellence: Communications; CPA; Science Office; and Environment, Equity & Justice Center.
• Help set NRDC’s policy agenda in consultation with the CEO and Advocacy Committee; collaborate extensively with the chief program officer to oversee and coordinate NRDC’s advocacy work and to decide on how to allocate NRDC resources to support its top program priorities; determine key objectives and measures of success to ensure the organization can deliver on its goals; and engage a full range of stakeholders, from the environmental justice movement to labor unions, commercial actors, faith-based groups, and beyond in the pursuit of NRDC’s strategy.
• Aim to ensure our capacities work focuses on the interlinked challenges of environmental inequality, racial and social injustice, and economic insecurity, in collaboration with the Equity Center.
• Attract, develop, mentor, and retain high-performance team members, empowering them to elevate their level of responsibility, span of control, and performance.
• Provide leadership in development of inter-team communication and cohesiveness, sustaining culture and supporting staff during a period of rapid organizational growth.
• Work with staff to develop systems that ensure consistent, high-quality project management.
• Champion equity, diversity, and inclusion by role-modeling values-based leadership principles and centering this in decision-making.

Fundraising and Representation

• As an external representative and ambassador of NRDC, play a leading role in setting the agenda and driving outcomes for our priority campaigns.
• Position NRDC to be a credible and effective force from the grassroots community levels to the federal and international political sphere.
• Serve as an internal and external thought leader, as well as a proxy for the president and CEO at various events.
• Work in conjunction with the chief development officer to fundraise and deliver on development goals.

Knowledge Management

• Help ensure the quality of NRDC’s knowledge products.
• Develop the necessary systems and tools to better support the collection and sharing of knowledge that is generated by our capacity areas, in collaboration with Programs and the Strategy unit.
• Ensure that key learnings from all parts of NRDC’s work are documented, celebrated, and evaluated for lessons learned, in collaboration with the Strategy unit.
• Work collaboratively with the senior management team to integrate priorities across our CPA, Communications, Science, and Equity teams.