Executive Director

The Center for Progressive Reform (the Center) seeks a skilled leader and experienced manager to be our next Executive Director. We are looking for candidates who have proven organizational leadership experience, a proven track record of growth-oriented fundraising success, and a deep commitment to inclusive and progressive environmental, labor, and public health policies.

The Center for Progressive Reform is a research and advocacy organization that works to advance climate justice and effective protections against environmental harm through more democratically responsive government. Driving this work is our core belief that social problems require collective solutions, including a robustly people-centered government using all the legal, legislative, and administrative tools at its disposal. We achieve these goals by drawing on the expertise of a national network of scholars and a professional staff to shape legislative and agency policy at the state and federal levels while working in coalition with movement allies and other public interest organizations. Our scholars and staff are quoted, cited, interviewed, and published hundreds of times across hundreds of different media outlets every year, including The New York Times, USA Today, the Associated Press, CNN, NPR, NBC News, and ABC News.

The Executive Director will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for the Center’s staff, programs, and execution of its mission, vision, and strategic plan. The Executive Director will focus on organizational leadership, stakeholder management, and fundraising with a comprehensive understanding of programs and operating models.

The Executive Director will further the Center’s mission by bringing a steady hand to lead the organization as it navigates the shifting philanthropic and policy landscape. The Executive Director will broaden and diversify the Center’s fundraising capacity, hone its programs to amplify impact, and bring together staff, scholars, local partners, and Board Members around a common vision for the organization’s next 10 years. The position is full-time, preferably based in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area, and reports to the Center’s Board of Directors.

Responsibilities

The Executive Director will incorporate values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (as articulated in the Center’s DEIJ Statement) in all responsibilities and duties and in executing the Center’s mission, vision, and strategic plan. In this spirit, the Executive Director will:

Leadership & Management

• Provide strategic and day-to-day leadership for the Center as it pursues its mission and seeks to deepen its impact;
• Manage and oversee the Center’s staff, ensuring quality program design and delivery and supporting professional development and advancement;
• Cultivate, organize, and expand our network of scholars and policymakers as critical stakeholders working to advance the Center’s mission and vision; 
• Develop, steward, and support a strong Board of Directors, including serving as ex-officio on select Board committees; 
• Create and maintain effective systems to track program growth and progress and communicate successes to the Board, funders, and other constituents; and
• Oversee the fiscal and administrative operations of the organization and ensure that the Center complies with all financial, legal, and ethical requirements, with particular attention to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Fundraising

• Develop and execute short- and long-term fundraising plans to ensure the Center meets its financial goals and grows its financial resources;
• Proactively cultivate relationships with both existing and new individual donors, major donors, foundations, and other providers of grant-based support;
• Expand local and national fundraising activities, including exploring other revenue-generating opportunities such as fee-for-service models;
• Cultivate a broad network within the nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystems; and
• Maintain a working knowledge of evolving trends in the philanthropic landscape, as well as significant developments in relevant fields of law and policy.

Communications

• Serve as a public spokesperson for the organization, including through media interviews, op-eds and letters to the editor, blog posts, and coalition events;
• Work with our communications team to refine and build upon the Center’s established brand recognition within the nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystems.

Qualifications

The Executive Director will be an experienced leader who is thoroughly committed to the Center’s mission. All candidates should have proven leadership, fundraising, coaching, mentoring, and relationship management experience; excellent written and oral communications skills; exceptional organizational skills; and the proven ability to grow programs and organizations. The successful candidate will be mission-driven; flexible; self-directed; lead with integrity and affability; and be committed to progressive causes, social justice, and inclusion.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• At least 10 years’ experience in a leadership role, preferably managing nonprofit organizations/teams and/or government agencies.
• Demonstrated success in fundraising and network-building, preferably within the nonprofit community.
• Excellence in management, with the ability to manage organizational transitions; develop high-performing teams in a remote organization with a “virtual office”; engage the Board of Directors; collaboratively set and achieve strategic objectives; and manage a budget.
• A skilled, persuasive communicator with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated experience managing and/or overseeing multidisciplinary projects.
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people and nurture a positive, rewarding work environment.
• Experience and expertise with environmental, labor, and/or public health policy; the workings of Capitol Hill and government agencies; and federal, regional, and local policymaking.
• Advanced degree in a relevant field (i.e., law, public health, public policy, etc.).

Compensation & Benefits

Location: While the Center operates as a remote organization, much of the organization’s critical work requires interaction with elected officials and government agencies, funders, and partner organizations, many of whom are located in or near Washington, DC. Because of this, we strongly prefer the Executive Director be located in the greater Baltimore-Washington region.

Salary: $155,000-$175,000

Benefits: The Center pays half of the cost of health and dental insurance, including employee dependents. Premiums are deducted from employee paychecks on a pre-tax basis. Full-time employees may participate in a 401(k) retirement plan with automatic 2% contributions from the organization, as well as a flexible spending plan (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) for healthcare-related expenses. The Center offers generous vacation, holiday, personal, parental, and sick leave policies, all in a largely work-from-home environment.

Start Date: By July 2026 preferred.

Close Date: Applications will be accepted until position is filled.