Candidate Profile Match

1. Market analysis.  Using market segment data, identify areas with the greatest opportunity to grow.
   • Growth areas that target under-performing packs and address root causes such as school access, community demographics, and unit leadership.
   • New units are organized in neighborhoods and communities where data indicates opportunities to better serve the youth population.
   • Emerging markets focus to grow in current and new outreach areas.
2. Unit Service – provide additional support to units, helping them grow, and improve annual program.
3. Continued focus on family Scouting since it will take a few years to realize the potential of more families in Scouting, for those units that include girls.
4. Kindergarten (Lions) program growth by ensuring each pack has Lions and understands the program.
5. New points of entry – open some Scouting events to the public with a “Scout for a day” or “Try and Join” plan.
   • Community camping opportunities / backyard camping.
   • Develop annual community-based events that introduce Scouting
   • Expand where possible in the highly successful council STEM program.
6. Strengthen school relationships where there are opportunities to improve ties between packs and schools, particularly to expand or protect flier distribution.

Youth retention requires a multi-faceted approach, yet I believe the key components are:

1. Ensure unit leaders have the tools necessary to provide the program that youth and families will enjoy and reducing unit administrative burdens where possible.
2. Offer opportunities for outdoor program that provide a variety of experiential learning that all age levels will enjoy and grow from.
3. Communicate the Scouting program progression to youth and families so they know the adventures and learning continue at each level.

We can look closely at any age and program level where retention should be addressed and create a plan to address those areas with membership, program and unit service volunteers and staff.

In order to address membership in a declining TAY situation, there is a need to remain innovative in how membership is approached.  Are there opportunities to grow in the council’s brand strategy and marketing the plan in emerging markets?  Can we also affect both recruiting and retention by developing more innovative programs such as STEM that better attract youth and families that we are not attracting now?

If it is not already standard practice, I would recommend a plan to use any camp surplus beyond council budget needs to go into a maintenance fund to support maintenance projects prioritized by the appropriate volunteer committee and staff.

I have five years of experience giving direction and guidance to a camp maintenance plan in collaboration with the council properties committee and my director of camping & properties with project costs ranging from $300-$350K annually to meet ongoing improvement and repair needs at seven properties.  Example projects: pool repair, new furnace, program equipment, dining hall kitchen remodel and generators.

http://www.northernstar.org/  The overall goals of the new site were:

1. Orient the website to our key audiences (public & new members)
2. Create a digital first approach in all of the communications at the council and district levels
3. Ensure once deployed, the site would be easier than the previous site to maintain and update.

The site is database driven to provide the ease of council content flowing into a district webpage as desired without having to maintain the same article in two places.  We used the Agile Method to work on this project with great success.

This was an 18-month project using iterative two-week periods called “sprints.”  A number of staff leaders (including me) that learned about the Agile process during the website project have used the technique for other council projects within their department to stay on track and hold people accountable to the team goal.  Concurrently, the team created a process to ensure the new website would stay current by engaging representatives from each department into a monthly communications meeting.

I also have co-led with Northern Star’s Marketing and Communications Director collaborative efforts with pro-bono professional advertising & marketing agencies to create youth recruitment marketing campaigns that present the dual proposition of having fun with friends (what youth want) and development of character and life skills (what parents are looking for) with eye catching taglines and images to use for school fliers, posters, yard signs, social media, etc.  I ensured alignment of results to membership objectives and strategies.  In many cases, we were able to develop a relationship where the firms leveraged their network with media agencies to provide reduced price or free advertising – print, billboards, radio and TV.

Every professional Scouter needs to be ready with a 1-2-minute sound bite or elevator speech about the impact Scouting is having in the community and our plans to do more in the future.  I am a member of a Rotary club and I make a point at every meeting to sit with a person I don’t know and build another connection.  I go to community gatherings and other social settings doing the same thing.  In addition, I have been spending time stewarding the donors in my FOS campaign and learning more about why they are involved and give to Scouting.

During my previous role as assistant director of development, I was the staff advisor to the entire FOS campaign for two years.   While in field operations, I have led the district Family FOS and district Community FOS campaigns.  Staff advisor to the council popcorn sale in 2006-2007.  I have developed agendas and executed development retreats, FOS trainings, FOS kick-offs and FOS report meetings.

Leveraging my experience, we can collaborate with the council nominating chair and committee to focus on areas of concern to develop the board, including inviting community members to the nominating process to expand our reach beyond the board’s networks.  We can establish goals within the strategic plan, and track and monitor progress.

I would highly encourage a year-round nominating/governance committee that can keep the momentum going on volunteerism and governance goals/objectives vs. a seasonal nominating committee process.

I created a staff development program for my team at Northern Star where each full-time staff member was assigned one topic to teach the larger team and over the course of the year we learned from each other about relevant topics such as: recruiting & supporting volunteers, meeting management, event promotions, mindfulness and others.

During the second campaign (Leaders for Life), I was the project manager for the $17 million Leadership Center.  This was a multi-year signature project for Northern Star Scouting.

• Recruited a five-person volunteer construction task force.
• Created the selection criteria, interview process and request for proposal outline for design firms, general contractors as well as specialty consultants (lighting, historic preservation, acoustics, signage, creative technology, phone system, LAN/WAN infrastructure, audio-visual, security/access control, furniture, fixtures and equipment).
• Led a cross-functional team that coordinated with the design firm, general contractor and specialty consultants.
• Held design and planning meetings and listening sessions throughout the planning process to ensure constituency input was gathered and considered in the final building plans.
• We provided stewardship opportunities during the design and construction phases for key capital donors to help in the design process and tour the construction site.
• Secured $55,000 in-kind donation of COPE & climbing poles and installation as well as over $300,000 in additional materials and labor in-kind donations for the project.
• Coordinated lease extension and related legal advice for the Golden Valley Service Center.
• Coordinated the sale and related legal advice for the Saint Paul Service Center.
• Planned and organized the movement of over sixty staff, furniture and their office equipment and files from two service centers to the Leadership Center.
• In collaboration with the volunteer construction chair, frequently provided construction and budget communication/briefing updates to the council board and key three.
• Significant experience in managing a capital campaign project budget, providing updates to the council board on the fiscal management of those funds as well as working with a large number of contractors and vendors in an orchestrated manner to get large and small construction projections completed on time and on budget.
• Projected was delivered on time, on budget including a maintenance reserve for future needs.

There have been many opportunities to continuously remind staff we are at a camp, and that can be exciting, but at the same time can be unpredictable in what occurs during youth programming and outside group meeting rentals. This was another project with change management at the heart of the planning.

I have also been part of the Northern Star Scouting restructuring of field staff from a traditional district executive model to a Community Relationship Executive (CRE) and a Program Relationship Executive (PRE) model a couple years ago.  CRE & PRE staff work as a team covering two districts.