The posting
Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, thought leadership, a network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.
The Human Potential Network (HPN) brings together leading employers and innovators who are rethinking how companies find, develop, and unleash talent across diverse sectors. HPN creates a trusted space for business leaders to tackle shared talent challenges, test new approaches, learn from one another, and expand solutions that create value for both people and employers.
HPN is entering a pivotal stage. After building an initial network of leading employers, launching the Human Potential Summit, and developing workstreams around some of employers’ most pressing talent challenges, HPN is preparing to transition from an initiative incubated within Stand Together into an independent organization.
We are seeking a Chief Executive Officer to lead that transition and build HPN into a durable, independent organization, partnering closely with Stand Together’s Future of Work leadership as its organizational incubator and investor.
The CEO will be responsible for developing and executing the strategy to position HPN as an independent organization through business and revenue modeling, talent, budget, operations, and governance. At the same time, this leader will continue strengthening the underlying model by generating new revenue, creating offerings employers value, building a high-performing team, and expanding HPN’s network of corporate and philanthropic partners.
This is a builder role. The CEO will shape both the organization HPN becomes and the model that sustains it over time.
How You Will Contribute
- Lead HPN’s transition to independence. Develop and execute an integrated plan covering strategy, revenue, talent, budget, operations, governance, and the organizational capabilities required for HPN to thrive as an independent entity.
- Build HPN for its next stage. Translate HPN’s purpose and early proof points into a focused strategy, operating model, and business model capable of sustaining and growing the organization.
- Develop a durable revenue model. Generate new corporate and philanthropic revenue while continuing to test which offerings and funding models create enough value to become repeatable at scale.
- Create offerings employers value. Work directly with business leaders to identify important talent challenges and turn them into differentiated workstreams, partnerships, convenings, and other opportunities for companies to learn, experiment, and act.
- Build transformative partnerships. Develop trusted relationships with CEOs, CHROs, philanthropists, and other senior leaders and create partnerships that advance HPN’s goals while delivering clear value to participants.
- Expand HPN’s reach and influence. Represent HPN compellingly in executive conversations, events, media, and other channels that bring new employers, funders, and collaborators into the network.
- Build and lead a high-performing team. Establish the talent, responsibilities, operating rhythms, and accountability needed for an entrepreneurial organization to move quickly and execute well.
- Create a culture of principled entrepreneurship. Build an organization in which people seek knowledge, challenge assumptions, adapt based on results, take ownership, and focus on creating value for others.
What You Will Bring
- Significant executive leadership experience with a record of building a new organization, business, platform, initiative, or capability from an early stage.
- Demonstrated ability to turn an ambitious idea into a focused strategy, sustainable business model, and strong execution.
- Experience leading through periods of significant organizational change, including launches, spinouts, growth, or institution-building.
- A track record of generating and growing revenue through business development, fundraising, partnerships, membership, services, or other market-tested models.
- Strong business judgment and the ability to understand what customers, members, and partners value, then adapt strategy based on what the market is demonstrating.
- Experience building trusted relationships with CEOs, senior corporate executives, philanthropic leaders, and other sophisticated external stakeholders.
- A record of building and leading high-performing teams with clear roles, accountability, and the ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial environment.
- Ability to move comfortably between strategy and execution, setting direction while staying close enough to the work to build what does not yet exist.
- Strong executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to represent HPN effectively across business, philanthropic, and other external audiences.
- Intellectual curiosity, humility, and a willingness to challenge assumptions, seek knowledge, and change course when evidence points toward a better path.
Standout Candidates Will Also Bring
- Experience building or scaling a membership organization, industry association, executive network, professional community, marketplace, or other platform whose success depends on consistently creating value for participants.
- Experience developing new products, services, or experiences for senior business leaders and refining them based on customer or member demand.
- Experience working across business and philanthropy while bringing a strong commercial or entrepreneurial orientation to the work.
- Familiarity with talent, workforce, AI, skills-based hiring, internal mobility, or related issues affecting employers. Deep subject-matter expertise is welcome but not required; demonstrated ability to build and learn matters more than sector pedigree.
Our Values: Working for an organization within the Stand Together philanthropic community is different from many other places. The culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom-up empowerment. PBM® empowers employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.
We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. That is why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, and respect.
