Vice President of Strategy

JOB SUMMARY

The Vice President of Strategy position is essential to the organization as a collaborator tasked with advancing priorities that reflect Travel Portland’s commitment to promote the destination and communicate the economic value of tourism. The VP of Strategy role takes on enterprisewide projects that move the organization forward and this position reports to the President & CEO.

The VP of Strategy will work with the Executive and Senior Leadership Teams to develop and disseminate organizational priorities and commitments, create cross-functional strategies that drive business results; align internal and external report outs and retreats, and manage the production of our business plan. This role oversees the work of Travel Portland’s Destination, Industry and Public Affairs, Events and Research departments, ensuring organization-wide relationships result in support of Travel Portland’s mission, vision and values. Annual industry events such as Awards, State of the Industry and/or Hotel Symposiums will be under the purview of the Strategy team.

All departments within Travel Portland have a collaborative partnership with our VP of Equity and Partnerships to ensure alignment around goals and reporting on the critical work Travel Portland is committed to doing to ensure the tourism economy is accessible to and impactful for all Portland communities.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS & KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Supervisory Responsibilities: directly supervises the Destination, Industry and Public Affairs, Events and Research departments
Primary functions: define organizational priorities; deliver industry report outs; and champion destination stewardship

Strategy:

• Lead process with Senior Leadership Team to evaluate, evolve, elevate and define organizational priorities on an annual basis.
• Lead collaborative efforts to create data-informed, cross-functional strategies that support the organizational priorities and leverage Portland’s competitive advantages and destination differentiators.
• Develop organization-wide calendar/timelines for strategic projects and priority events; regular share outs to staff, board and industry audiences around topics including organizational priorities; the development and submission of our quarterly reports and biannual business plan; strategic projects; internal planning and budgeting; etc.
• Serve as internal lead on industry events to report out annual tourism statistics and recognize valued tourism partners through annual Tourism Awards.
• Oversee annual process to nominate, select and recognize tourism industry award recipients.
• Serve as internal lead on annual retreats (board, staff, exec, senior and/or directors) with Events team. Collaborate with Senior Leadership Team on priority topics, trends and report outs and oversee Events team on fulfillment, budget, theme, presentation decks and post-event surveys.
• Monitor DMO trends, successes and structures to evaluate effectiveness and impact through industry media, conferences and research.
• Report to Executive Team on scope, projects, needs and successes quarterly.
• Identify gaps in the business; propose and drive solutions.
• Work cross-functionally to ensure transparency across organization.

Management: This position will oversee three departments, including Destination, Industry
and Public Affairs, Events, and Research, each of which have individual budgets, objectives and
priorities. The VP of Strategy will:

• Oversee teams of professionals on departmental budget development, building of annual plans and management of external vendors, budgets and contracts.
• Oversee evolution of Destination Stewardship strategic framework to ensure strategic investments, grants and other community support aligns with vision.
• Oversee and/or evolve additional strategic frameworks that clearly define scopes of work, relationship to organizational priorities and communicate opportunities for other departments to tap into internal expertise, specifically in the areas of events and research.
• Oversee Travel Portland’s work as the Regional Destination Marketing Organization (RDMO) for the Portland Region as designated by Travel Oregon via its Regional Cooperative Tourism Program (RCTP).
• Mentor individual staff and help balance learning opportunities with ongoing responsibilities and attendance at key industry conventions.
• Manage direct reports, conducting mid-year and annual reviews and overseeing expense reports and time-management reporting.
• Identify and oversee opportunities for regular departmental report outs to staff and key audiences on research trends, interpretation and recommended actions.
• Ensure inclusion of departments in annual cross-departmental planning processes to ensure teams are on the front end of planning for budget and capacity considerations and to ensure the organization is utilizing internal assets.

Strategic Projects: VP of Strategy will lead efforts to advance work and define structure around priority projects that need to evolve but do not currently have a natural home in an existing department.

• Lead facilitated work to enhance strategic vision around Portland’s destination differentiators, such as culinary, sustainability, sportswear/women’s sports and more.
• Oversee and/or evolve additional destination management/product development strategic frameworks that clearly identify as destination business accelerators (i.e. James Beard Public Market, Waterfront Park Infrastructure, Lloyd Area Development) and demonstrate potential for public/private/intergovernmental collaboration.

SECONDARY FUNCTIONS

• Produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports and evaluations and participate in ongoing Travel Portland events, meetings and activities.
• Speak publicly about economic impact of tourism; international and domestic tourism; and other topics to inform and educate the industry locally and nationally.
• Provide collaborative leadership within the organization by working closely with the senior leadership team to create shared success across the organization.
• Other related duties which may be necessary or desirable to support Travel Portland’s success.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE; Certificates, Licenses and Registrations:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent education in relevant field, and a minimum of 5 years of leading and executing strategic plans in a corporate environment, or an equivalent combination of education, experience and training that would provide the knowledge, skills and abilities required for the successful performance of the essential job duties.
• Proven ability to implement strategies with a focus on community relations, diversity,
  equity and inclusion initiatives in an organization with diverse constituencies.

NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Strong business acumen and understanding of industry trends
• Exceptional leadership and management skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate with cross-functional teams
• Proven track record in developing and implementing successful strategic plans
• Skilled in research best practices and the distillation of data into actionable insights
• Ability to communicate effectively and respectfully within the context of varying beliefs, behaviors, orientations, identities, and cultural backgrounds
• Applied knowledge in diversity principles, practices, and procedures

WORK ENVIRONMENT & SCHEDULE
General office environment in downtown Portland, Oregon. Employees of Travel Portland currently follow a hybrid work schedule, working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and one other day of their choosing in the Portland office, with the option to work remotely two days per week.

Travel Portland is a promoter and steward of this evolving city and its progressive values, which have the power to transform the travelers who visit us. Our mission is to generate economic impact through travel demand.