Executive Director

The Opportunity

The Opportunity The IPP is a bold, ten-year, $161 million initiative to develop a civic operating system for the St. Louis region, uniting public, private, and community partners to design, fund, and implement scalable solutions to the barriers preventing people from achieving economic success and mobility. This initiative aims to promote economic mobility and success for those who have been left behind, through three priority areas: workforce development, early childhood education, and affordable housing. The IPP seeks an Executive Director to harness commitment into coordinated action and measurable impact.

The IPP is a $161 million, ten-year pooled fund initially convened by the James S. McDonnell Foundation and housed at the St. Louis Community Foundation. Its mission is to build a more resilient regional economy that works for everyone, addressing systemic barriers to economic mobility and inclusive growth that have long challenged the St. Louis region. It is collaborative and cross-sector by design, funding design, implementation, and evaluation of scalable solutions, and using a community-informed Solution Design & Implementation cycle. It invests in human capital to support both the design process and implementation at scale.

The IPP’s first three focus areas reflect the most urgent barriers to economic mobility: Quality Jobs for People with Low Incomes, Early Childhood Education, and Affordable Housing. The IPP channels bold, coordinated giving into community-informed, co-designed strategies. Over the next ten years, the IPP will address key barriers to economic mobility with a target budget of $25 million per focus area and an operating budget designed to stay at or below $3 million. The organization is backed by a Steering Committee of regional civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders, plus national consultants and implementation partners.

The IPP is still in its building phase, and the Executive Director will translate vision into execution and build upon the work already begun.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Shape and execute the IPP’s long-term strategy to advance inclusive economic growth and economic mobility across the St. Louis region.
• Define the IPP’s theory of change with the Steering Committee and key stakeholders; clarify success, set measurable goals, and establish a credible 10-year roadmap.
• Ensure alignment across governance structures and active workstreams.
• Oversee the design and implementation of Solution Design Cohorts (SDCs), ensuring all key stakeholder groups are meaningfully integrated.
• Represent the IPP as a visible and credible leader across St. Louis’s civic, philanthropic, nonprofit, and business communities.

Coalition Building & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the IPP’s primary spokesperson and relationship anchor, building trust with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Grow the tent by recruiting new cofunders, partners, and advocates into the IPP’s network and coalition.
• Navigate complex interpersonal and organizational dynamics to find common ground among disparate stakeholders.
• Represent the IPP at regional and national forums on economic mobility, inclusive growth, and civic infrastructure.
• Steward key relationships with donors and implementation partners to sustain commitment over the ten-year journey.

Operational Excellence & Team Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performing, mission-driven team with strong coaching and people-development practices.
• Manage external consultants, facilitators, data partners, and implementation contractors for coordinated, accountable execution.
• Oversee data infrastructure, communications, and evaluation systems to track progress and demonstrate impact.
• Maintain an operating budget at or below $3 million while ensuring the bulk of raised funds flow into community solutions.
• Model agility and continuous improvement in partnership with stakeholders, with urgency and innovation.

Fund Development & Financial Stewardship

• Lead fundraising to meet, and exceed, the IPP’s $161 million pooled fund goal.
• Cultivate relationships with local donors, corporate partners, philanthropic institutions, and national foundations.
• Articulate a compelling case for investment grounded in data, community voice, and early wins.
• Ensure transparent, compliant financial management and reporting to build confidence among funders and stakeholders.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal Executive Director is a curious builder who listens deeply, understands ground realities, and moves bold ideas to execution at scale.

• Humility & Learning Orientation – Listen first, understand the landscape, honor existing relationships, stay inquisitive, and act with deliberate motion without requiring certainty.
• Master Coalition Builder – Build a very big tent by aligning corporate leaders, community voices, and unusual coalitions around inclusive growth.
• Action Orientation & Execution Discipline – Demonstrated success taking ideas to implementation in a start-up, early-stage environment; clear milestones and attention to detail.
• Exceptional Emotional Intelligence – Navigate a multi-stakeholder civic environment with trust-building, authentic community engagement, and durable relationships.
• Demonstrated Experience & Qualifications – Minimum 10 years in senior leadership within philanthropy, nonprofit management, or related fields; experience with multi-stakeholder initiatives; data-informed decision making; fundraising experience; comfort in a start-up setting. Preferred attributes include strong local ties, national funding network connections, and coalition-building across diverse groups.

Demonstrated Experience & Qualifications (continued)

• Minimum 10 years in senior leadership within philanthropy, nonprofit management, community development, or public-private partnerships.
• Experience leading large-scale, multi-stakeholder initiatives with measurable outcomes, ideally regionally or nationally.
• Familiarity with economic mobility, workforce development, early childhood education, housing, or related areas; ability to engage credibly across domains.
• Capital deployment, CDFI models, or large-scale philanthropic campaigns; track record of fundraising.
• Data-informed decision-making skills; familiarity with economic analysis, impact evaluation, and community metrics.
• Comfort in a startup environment; ability to build systems and culture while delivering results.

Preferred Attributes

• Ability to build deep local relationships in the St. Louis civic community or strong regional credibility.
• Track record of securing multi-year and major gifts from national funders; strong national philanthropic network connections a plus.
• Experience working across racial, economic, and political lines to build durable coalitions.
• Long-term commitment to stay and see the work through.

The Relationships

The Executive Director will initially report to the CEO of the St. Louis Community Foundation and will receive strategic direction from the IPP Steering Committee.

The three committees below will be key partners and instrumental to IPP’s success:

• The Steering Committee drives decision-making, governance, fund development, and long-term success.
• The Collaborative Partner Committee champions the IPP by sharing expertise and informing funding focus areas.
• Solution Design Cohorts develop interventions for priority areas; plan to staff the IPP with a project manager, stakeholder manager, and administrative coordinator.

The Location

The St. Louis region offers a rich cultural heartbeat, quality of life, arts institutions, and a growing innovative ecosystem. It is a place where historic architecture meets a growing economy with world-class universities and vibrant communities. The Executive Director will help shape the region’s inclusive economic future.

For potential consideration or to recommend a prospect, please email or call Crystal Stephens, Demeika Wheaton, or Michelle Hall at .

The Inclusive Prosperity Partnership is committed to building an inclusive search process and welcomes candidates of diverse backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

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