Mercersburg Academy is a private, college-prep boarding school located in south-central Pennsylvania, about 90 minutes from the Baltimore/Washington DC metro area. The school’s Mission and Strategic Design guide our vision and direction. At Mercersburg, we value diversity and believe in cultivating a safe community where everyone is encouraged to be their authentic selves.

Job Classification:

Staff, Full-Time, 12 Month, Exempt

Reports to

Chief Advancement Officer

Summary

The Director of Alumni and Parent Relations is a visible, dynamic member of the Mercersburg community who has primary responsibilities for organizing and managing volunteers and programs to expand the school’s community of support. The Director will collaborate with the AAR staff to broaden the school’s engagement opportunities through volunteering, events (both on and off campus), affinity connections, networking, and academic collaboration. This position interacts directly with donors, volunteers, development officers, the Head of School, and students.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Volunteers: Plan and implement activities to enlist, engage, and steward volunteers. Current volunteer responsibility includes: Alumni Council, White Key Executive Council, reunion committees, event hosts, class ambassadors, classroom collaborators, Black Alumni Association, Student Alumni Association.
• Events: Create and carry-out opportunities to enhance the school’s community of support through events such as Family and Alumni Weekend, Reunion Weekend, regional activity, virtual gatherings, academic program collaboration such as guest speakers and school meetings.
• Collaboration: facilitates partnership with other teams on campus, including Annual Giving (e.g. reunions), Admission (e.g. alumni White Key), Special Events (e.g. event logistics), and Marketing (e.g. Newsletter).
• Manage: Alumni and Parent Relations Officer. Establish and maintain a culture of performance feedback and growth, including effective onboarding and training of new staff, coaching and mentoring of staff.
• Develop: assess institutional needs and traditions to develop programming that promotes the School’s learning community and involves alumni, parents, and friends with the current life of the campus community.
• Create an environment that fosters and supports creativity, new thinking, service, and personal initiative.
• Uphold the values of the Advancement and Alumni Relations team.

The Director of Alumni and Parent Relations travels for regional activities and those programs designed to involve alumni, parents, and friends of the School. The Director of Alumni and Parent Relations will be familiar with the academic and student programs of the School and share that knowledge with alumni and parents.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• A disciplined, results-oriented, self-starter, demonstrating initiative and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Proven success at networking and relationship building.
• Persuasive communication skills in writing, in-person, and over the telephone.
• Outstanding listening and analytical skills.
• Strong presentation skills with the ability to be knowledgeable and articulate in stating Mercersburg Academy’s mission and vision, and the case for support of its priorities.
• Ability to appropriately manage highly-confidential information.
• A creative, good-natured member of a team with demonstrated collaborative and proactive manners.
• Exceptional organization skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to travel and work flexible hours, including weekends.

Physical Demands:

The conditions herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

Environment: Work is performed in an indoor/office environment where the noise level ranges from quiet to moderate. Work will also be performed outside an office environment to visit donors or attend events. These environments will vary.

Physical: Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to walk, stand, and sit for prolonged periods of time; to travel in all modes of transportation; sufficient manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination to operate office machinery; and to verbally communicate to exchange information.

Vision: See in the normal visual range with or without correction.

Hearing: Hear in the normal audio range with or without correction.

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Five years of progressively responsible experience in alumni and/or parent relations with demonstrated strengths in volunteer management, leadership, organization, and communication.
• Prior management experience.