Vice President, Policy & Innovation

Vice President, Policy & Innovation

Colleges Ontario is the association representing the province’s 24 public colleges. The association promotes the colleges’ pivotal role in strengthening the economy by producing graduates with the professional qualifications and expertise to succeed in rewarding careers. Colleges Ontario champions policy measures to strengthen the quality of programs available to students and implements provincewide marketing and communications campaigns to promote the full range of programs offered to students.

Reporting to the President and CEO and serving as a member of the senior team, your primary responsibility as Vice President, Policy & Innovation will be to marshall data and provide strategic policy advice to help support the mission of Colleges Ontario. This key role will lead the policy team in developing strong and credible research and overseeing the analysis of policy issues that lead to the development of association policy positions.

Thinking outside the box to help advance the Ontario college system, you’ll advise the CEO of trends developing in the post-secondary space around the world and at home, engage with senior civil servants to ensure the association and the government have a clear perspective of each other’s priorities, and lead and mentor the policy department in analyzing and articulating current trends.

An outstanding communicator skilled in building partnerships with external organizations and influencing government, you’ll represent the college sector in meetings with senior government officials, advisory boards and members institutions. You’ll also influence key provincial stakeholder organizations and governments to support policies that allow colleges to respond to the province’s social and economic needs.

In addition to preparing policy recommendations for the Committee of Presidents, you’ll develop strong working relationships with Vice Presidents in the college system and support college committees to ensure they are attuned to and engaged with system priorities. Your duties will also encompass initiating, planning and implementing research projects to support the advocacy goals of the college sector.

Your success in this role will be enhanced by broad experience in the analysis and development of public policy issues as well as a graduate degree in a related field (e.g., MA or equivalent). You possess considerable experience in a senior leadership position in the public sector, post-secondary institutions or similar public institutions. Your track record includes extensive experience working with provincial advocacy associations, senior policy leadership in government or the post-secondary system, and several years’ experience providing leadership to a wide range of groups and individuals.

To apply to this senior leadership role in policy development, submit your application to Phelps, at careers@phelpsgroup.ca, specifying the job title in the subject line of your e-mail.

Application deadline: June 25th, 2021.