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LEADERSHIP PROFILE
Executive Director
Rotary Club of Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
“Hope.”
– Rotary Club of Atlanta’s programmatic theme, 2019-2020
THE OPPORTUNITY
Every week of the year in normal times,
members of the 500-strong Rotary Club
of Atlanta gather in the heart of
downtown to foster meaningful
connections among metro-area leaders,
stimulating dialogue on important
business and civic issues and advancing
impactful projects that enhance lives Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields. RCA members
founded the Atlanta Police Foundation and
across the region and around the world. continue to serve in board leadership roles.
For over a hundred years, the Rotary Club of Atlanta (RCA) has counted among
its members a disproportionate number of the metro area’s leaders. The Club’s
current membership—predominantly CEOs, Managing Partners, Executive
Directors and the like—lead established institutions, start-ups and everything
in between. About 80% of the members head private-sector entities, while
about a fifth lead nonprofit organizations. Collectively, they represent every
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Rotary Club of Atlanta
Executive Director Leadership Profile
April 2020
Page 2 of 6
significant sector of the region’s economy, and the Club’s board and
membership committee work diligently to ensure a continuing focus on
emerging sectors as well.
Regardless of their individual professional focus, RCA members share an
abiding commitment to “service above self,” a core tenet across all of Rotary,
and the range of outlets for such service is as varied as the members
themselves are. A recent informal survey revealed that the Club’s 500+
members have served on well over a thousand volunteer boards, committees
and initiatives, each in its own way
striving to make Atlanta and the
world a better place.
Rotary Club of Atlanta is a 501(c)(4)
nonprofit corporation governed by a
volunteer board and enhanced by a
robust committee structure that
engages a significant percentage of
the membership. The Club’s
community efforts are supported as
Some of the 50,000 visiting Rotarians at the 2017
well by its three foundations, all global convention, held in Atlanta
501(c)(3)s: The Charitable Foundation
of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, Rotary Educational Foundation of Atlanta and
Youth Service Fund. Grants by the four entities totaled over $650,000 in 2018,
per the most recent IRS Form 990s, and assets totaled just under $4 million.
At the center of all this activity is a small but critically important professional
staff, led by the Executive Director. The incumbent Executive Director is
departing after over two decades of service, thus prompting the present search
for her successor.
For more information on the Rotary Club of Atlanta, please visit the Club’s
website.1 An overview of the larger Rotary movement is available here.2
THE ORGANIZATION
Founded in 1913, The Rotary Club of Atlanta serves as a powerful example of
what people can accomplish when they work together for the common good.
Originally launched as a membership organization of 38 Atlantans representing
1 https://www.atlantarotary.org. Note, however, that much of the Club’s website is available to
members only. Full access can be arranged once mutual interest has been established.
2 https://www.rotary.org
Rotary Club of Atlanta
Executive Director Leadership Profile
April 2020
Page 3 of 6
38 leading employers, RCA and its members have exemplified service above self
ever since, both at home in Atlanta and across the globe.
RCA has played a leading role, but not always a public one, in many initiatives
of note. Examples of ongoing commitments:
• The eradication of polio, a core initiative of Rotary International to which
the downtown Atlanta club has been a consistent participant
• Provisions for clean water in Kenya
• Renovation of a central service center for the homeless in downtown
Atlanta
• Two decades of on-the-ground
support3 for people in the Agalta
Valley of Honduras
• A multi-year collaboration with
CARE4, supporting vulnerable
refugees in the Middle East as
they start businesses and create
livelihoods.
• A broad-based initiative to fight
human trafficking5, an issue of
special concern to a city that is a
major transportation hub and
home to the world’s busiest
airport.
To remain an attractive outlet for civic
and business leaders in the economic
capital of the South for over a century,
the Rotary Club of Atlanta must
continue to provide a richness of
experience—in its substance, its
diversity and its import—that is simply not available elsewhere week after
week. It is critical, therefore, that the Club reflect the high expectations
members set for their own organizations, with special attention to execution.
Reporting to the board of directors and working especially closely with the
volunteer President, the Executive Director has an outsized opportunity to
influence the environment in which an extraordinary group of leaders convene,
connect and collaborate. The board may set the vision, but the Executive
Director sets the tone, managing day-to-day operations, supporting the board
3
https://www.atlantarotary.org/post/2019-honduras-mission-dates-announced
4
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/06/08/rotary-club-of-atlanta-initiative-to-aid-syrian.html
5
https://www.atlantarotary.org/post/rotary-club-of-atlanta-task-force-battles-human-trafficking
Rotary Club of Atlanta
Executive Director Leadership Profile
April 2020
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and its various committees and generally facilitating, with grace and care, all
the initiatives and activities that make RCA such an interesting, impactful and
respected organization.
The next Executive Director must be a true servant leader who, through quiet
confidence and competence, ensures a smooth-running Club characterized by
the sort of efficiency that enables ideas to become initiatives and initiatives to
become outcomes. RCA’s budget is modest, but its resources are substantial.
A forward-looking, attentive Executive Director could have enormous impact on
just how fully one of the leading Rotary clubs in the world capitalizes on the
potential inherent in its membership.
To support its aspirations, RCA seeks an Executive Director who embodies the
spirit of Rotary and who will excel at serving the organization and its members
with enthusiasm and efficiency. A
high level of emotional intelligence,
exceptional interpersonal and
organization skills and a genuine
warmth will help ensure that all
members feel engaged, supported
and appreciated.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES
To be fully effective, Rotary’s
Executive Director must be a passionate advocate for civic leadership and a
resourceful operator capable of providing the tactical and strategic support a
group of accomplished leaders have a right to expect.
More specifically, the Executive Director will:
1. Successfully engage with RCA members, individually and
collectively. Grounded in the spirit of service that defines Rotary, the
Executive Director must be a resource to Club members, helping new
members assimilate and existing members engage more fully. Whether
in person or through the smart use of social and digital media, the
Executive Director must be a facile communicator and compelling
ambassador, facilitating effective connections within the Club, within the
metro area, with the other 60+ clubs in District 69006 and with leaders
in Rotary International.7
6
https://rotary6900.org/club/map
7
https://www.rotary.org/en
Rotary Club of Atlanta
Executive Director Leadership Profile
April 2020
Page 5 of 6
2. Oversee daily operations, ensuring seamless execution of meetings,
functions and the resources that support them. The Executive
Director must bring strong organizational and operational competencies
to RCA, employing a proactive approach to the myriad activities inherent
in such an organization. Either personally or through responsible
delegation, the ED must provide the planning and practical leadership to
ensure that RCA’s affairs are executed with high standards and minimal
drama.
3. Steward the Club’s budget, its
operating finances and its
grantmaking activities. The
Club’s budget is not especially
complicated, but it does require
attention, especially in the
invoicing and collection of
members’ dues and the
management of vendors.
Similarly, the Club contributes
nearly $350,000 each year to various nonprofits, a process traditionally
managed by the members but with important administrative and grant
management support from the Executive Director.
4. Provide proactive administrative support to the Board and to Board
committees. RCA is a volunteer-led organization, and the Executive
Director’s leadership is critical to the effective engagement of those
volunteers.
5. Provide indispensable leadership for RCA, attending to whatever
needs may arise in the course of the Club’s regular activities. A
selfless attitude, a resourceful nature and a commitment to addressing
issues before they become problems will be expected and reciprocated.
THE RELATIONSHIPS
RCA’s ED reports to • President, Rotary Club of Atlanta
And provides direct • Chair of RCA’s board
support to • Chairs of its various board committees
While interacting • RCA’s program partners
with such important • Beneficiaries of RCA’s own philanthropic outreach
stakeholders as • Business leaders, public officials and other community
leaders who may not be Rotary members but whose
interests overlap with those of the Club
Rotary Club of Atlanta
Executive Director Leadership Profile
April 2020
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THE CANDIDATE
Assets being sought in the Executive Director include:
• An authentic passion for Rotary’s mission
• A high level of personal and professional integrity
• An aptitude for execution paired with an attitude of willingness and
accountability
• Experience working with nonprofit organizations, boards and volunteer
leaders; experience with membership organizations or associations would
be highly additive
• The facility to manage multiple priorities with apparent ease
• Excellent communication skills, including experience with digital and
social media
• The judgment and maturity to cultivate and manage across a broad
spectrum of relationships, agendas and stakeholders
• Experience in championing and building a staff appropriate to the
mission, strategy and budget.
THE LOCATION
The Rotary Club of Atlanta meets weekly in the Loudermilk Center in
downtown Atlanta – the epicenter of a thriving metropolitan area that is home
to about six million residents, the world’s busiest airport, 54 two- and four-
year colleges and universities, sixteen Fortune 500 companies, multiple
professional sports teams, and a dozen of the nation’s largest and most
impactful nonprofit organizations, many with global reach.
An extensive profile of Metro Atlanta’s people, institutions and influence is
available here.8
For potential consideration or to suggest a prospect, please
email us here9 or call
Sam Pettway (404-420-5843) or John Sparrow (404-420-5845).10
8
https://www.metroatlantachamber.com/assets/2019_profile_of_metro_atlanta_DNw4zzz.pdf
9
RCA@BoardWalkConsulting.com
10
Our main office number is 404-BoardWalk (404-262-7392). Any messages left there will be forwarded to us
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