Executive Vice President

mazon Conservation Team
Executive Vice President

The Amazon Conservation Team, based in Arlington, Virginia, seeks a dynamic leader to serve as its Executive Vice President.

Overview

The mission of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is to partner with indigenous people to protect the rainforest. The conservation of Amazonian forests is pivotal for the health of the planet because it plays a key role in maintaining local and global water cycles, conserving biodiversity, and reducing release of carbon to the atmosphere, the current primary cause of climate change. ACT has found that the most effective way to preserve these forests is to support indigenous communities in protecting their traditional lands and cultures. Indigenous lands account for much of the best conserved rainforest in South America. In fact, these lands constitute roughly a quarter of the Amazon region, and indigenous people characteristically demonstrate a strong conservation ethos when their traditional values and cultures are respected and preserved.

ACT maintains a set of “core values” that guide the initiation and development of all programs and projects.

• ACT believes that conservation is a moral and spiritual issue.

• ACT believes that its three overarching goals—to preserve the ecosystems of the Amazon, to strengthen the traditional cultures of the resident peoples of the Amazon, and to promote the health and well-being of those societies—are interdependent aspects of an integrated whole.

• ACT believes that long-term progress in rainforest conservation requires cooperative partnerships based on mutual trust with local communities and organizations.

• ACT believes that the knowledge and practices of indigenous and other forest communities are important and useful for natural resource conservation.

• ACT considers the role of traditional healer within Amazonian indigenous communities as essential, and deeply esteems the knowledge systems that have been handed down to successive generations of healers.

ACT countries of operation are Colombia and Suriname. In Colombia, ACT conducts activities in the eastern Andean slope transition region to the Amazon in the departments of Caquetá, Putumayo, and Cauca, as well as in the Amazon lowlands region in the department of Amazonas. ACT Colombia has increasingly worked with small farmer communities in addition to its indigenous partners to achieve conservation objectives. In Suriname, ACT’s work area remains the vast, largely undeveloped interior of the country, inhabited by the Trio and Wayana indigenous peoples as well as Maroon communities. ACT and its partner tribes have mapped over 70 million acres of forestlands across Amazonia, primarily in Brazil and Suriname, and have forged partnerships with nearly 40 indigenous groups.

ACT occupies a unique niche in the field of international conservation, to which it has made significant contributions. ACT leadership maintains that both its conservation purpose and its central value of partnering with indigenous peoples remain important hallmarks of the organization’s identity. ACT occupies a special niche in the conservation community and serves a role which is both critical and valued by its partners and the indigenous communities it serves.

For more information on ACT, please review their website at www.amazonteam.org.

Executive Vice President

The Executive Vice President (EVP) should possess sophisticated management, fundraising, and strategic capabilities. Moreover, the EVP must be able to direct, motivate and inspire a professional staff – treating all staff with respect, consideration and thoughtfulness. This person needs to bring genuine excitement and commitment to ACT’s mission.

Because so much of what the EVP will do involves communicating the organization’s vision and building relationships with foundation colleagues, public sector and nonprofit and corporate leaders, the EVP must have the presence, humility and interpersonal skills to work effectively and professionally with a diverse range of people from different environments and sectors of society.

The broad objectives for the EVP are as follows:

• To create a coherent and integrated strategic and business plan, including a fully articulated approach to development of country specific staff and program activities;

• To continue to expand the financial base of ACT, pursuing philanthropic investment and other creative sources of revenue for the organization;

• To attract, retain and manage a team of professional staff who possess the capacity to fulfill the organization’s mission;

• To support the development of a vibrant future by continuing to cultivate, expand and make the best use of Board and staff.

The EVP will oversee a professional staff of 40, including headquarters, Colombia and Suriname and a budget of approximately $3.2 million. ACT’s is governed by a 14 member Board, which meets two times a year.

Professional Qualifications and Personal Attributes

The EVP ideally should possess the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:

• A passionate commitment to ACT’s mission;

• Demonstrated experience in developing and administering a comprehensive fundraising program;

• Demonstrated leadership and business acumen, a proven record leading organizational growth;

• Personal creativity and strategic vision, coupled with an ability to listen to others and learn from their best ideas – a sense of inquisitiveness and intellectual curiosity;

• Ability to generate and deliver clear and persuasive oral and written communications;

• Ability to inspire trust, to organize people into teams and to motivate team members to work well together;

• Fluency in Spanish a plus.

• Impeccable integrity, high energy level, and the possession of a sense of humor.

Compensation

The Amazon Conservation Team offers an excellent benefits package and a salary that is commensurate with experience.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should e-mail a cover letter explaining how your skills and background fit this position and a resume to Daniel Sherman, President, Explore Company, resumes@explorecompany.com. Please refer to ACT in the subject line. No phone inquiries please.

The Amazon Conservation Team is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
All correspondence will remain confidential.

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