Director of Member Relations

My client brings our Members a comprehensive suite of offerings to meet their energy needs including, but not limited to:  

•   Electricity and natural gas supply 
•   Cleaner energy alternatives 
•   Electric transportation equipment and services 
•   Energy efficiency projects and financing, and 
•   Energy sustainability planning and implementation

They are a mission-driven and deeply committed team that is passionate about meeting their Members' energy sustainability needs. Their Members, in turn, can put more focus on their missions and communities, which often include supporting low-income and disadvantaged populations. 

Overview

The Director of Member Relations will have a key leadership role in the organization, representing the voice of my client's Members and Collaborators and ensuring the products, services, and ways of engaging with them provide value and meet their needs. The Director of Member Relations will report to the Chief of Staff and Impact and will supervise the Member Management Team.

Key Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the Director of Member Relations position include but are not limited to:

General Responsibilities

• Lead strategic planning and implementation for the Member Relationship function, including existing and new member relations, ensuring alignment with my client's mission and values.

• Oversee development and implementation of budgets, forecasts and strategic plans for Member Relations programs. Track, manage and report performance against key performance indicators.
• Prepare regular reports for internal and external stakeholders, demonstrating member relations program impact and effectiveness.
• Manage team of Member Relationship Managers and Senior Program Manager- Maine.
• Serve as the lead for the Member Advisory Committee, actively engaging members and planning biannual meetings and an annual field trip.
• Oversee new Member onboarding and orientation in coordination with Marketing.
• Work collaboratively with staff and teams to integrate the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, access, and belonging into our internal and external work.

• Be a key member of the leadership team, contributing to business success and growth.

Member Journey and Strategic Development Responsibilities

• Serve as the voice of Members across the organization, working closely with all business lines to ensure that our products, services, and processes are serving our Members well. This will involve working collaboratively with other teams to develop processes, systems, and products that ensure Member journeys that meet our segmented Member needs.
• Responsible for overseeing the entire Member journey, from initial engagement to post-Membership support, with the goal of maximizing Member satisfaction and retention.
• Lead organizational CRM efforts to ensure high levels of data & reporting accuracy and lead continuous improvement of systems and processes to improve efficiency, reduce friction, and increase customer engagement and satisfaction.
• Assess existing sales and outreach processes and assist with the establishment of improved processes and development of training and documentation materials to best support the team in conjunction with the Marketing team.
• Assess and further develop existing Member segments, map Members to segment, and retention plans for the existing Member base.
• Build a prescriptive, scalable strategy to expand opportunities with Members that is in alignment with their needs.
• Develop and deliver accurate forecast details during monthly business reviews.
• Maintain positive and dedicated line of communication between the lines of business, as well as with senior leadership.

Account Management and Member Support

• Serve as the Member Manager for approximately 25 of my clients largest members (cities, towns, hospitals, and universities).

• Assess pipeline, activity & forecasts to determine progress & areas for refinement/improvement. Develop and implement plans to address areas for refinement/improvement.
• Ensure the work of the Member Relations team and its partners effectively meets Members needs and supports them to make sound decisions about their energy and make progress on their decarbonization journey; regularly seek feedback from Members to ensure work exceeds their expectations and to gather input to continually improve offerings and create new solutions.

• Establish and achieve commodity renewal, cross sell, growth and retention targets along with Member satisfaction targets.

• Plan and direct Account Management activities to agreed targets; achieve and exceed assigned quotas/ targets.
• Report on Account Management activity, pipeline development, and forecast to Leadership.

• Work cross functionally with tech enablement team to identify opportunities to create and adopt AI and other tech enabled tools and resources that increase productivity and unlock insights as well as support member decision making and learning.

• Build and nurture C-level relationships across accounts to solidify our partnership and commitment to our Members.

Team Management

• Provide leadership and manage a high-performing team of Member Relationship Managers and the Senior Program Manager- Maine, each with their own client pools, to drive retention and growth.

• Foster an inclusive, collaborative, productive and innovative work environment to support successful program and service execution in alignment with my client's mission-driven culture.

• Support team members with one-on-one meetings. Coach team members through development of key skills, including forecasting & consultative sales planning, prospecting/pipelining within account base, complex deal negotiations, as well as CRM/reporting accuracy. Guide team on portfolio management and account prioritization, with emphasis on building long-term partnerships.

• Work alongside Member Relationship Managers by supporting deal strategy and client meeting preparation to ensure pipeline coverage, retention, and growth of existing Members. Serve as an escalation point for the team on all deals.

• Communicate and establish expectations for weekly activities, pipelines, forecasts and closed deals. Monitor activity of the team, tracking results, and leading weekly forecast and pipeline review meetings.
• Lead by example, modeling best practices for consultative sales and managing the Member journey.
• Embody my client's mission and values, demonstrate ownership and leading with empathy in all Member interactions

Qualifications and Experience:

While no candidate will embody all qualifications, the ideal candidate will possess the following:

• Bachelor's degree with a major or minor in business, economics, engineering, sustainability, or a related field preferred.
• 10+ years of sales/account management experience, with 5+ years demonstrated success leading a team of sales/account management professionals with a track record of values-based leadership and building high impact, high integrity teams.
• Experience in energy field, business program management, contracting, and account management. Professional experience and/or knowledge of energy commodities preferred.
• Experience with nonprofit organizations and the public sector.
• Outstanding relationship building and effective communications skills to gain trust and rapport with members, clients and other stakeholders. This includes excellent reporting, forecasting and presentation skills.
• Experience putting Members first and supporting them to overcome the challenges they face in reducing the cost, carbon, and complexity of their energy.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and staff to create results-driven, team-oriented environment; track record of leading teams against specific KPIs.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with external vendors and stakeholders.
• Outstanding consultative selling abilities with recent experience managing and closing complex sales-cycles with large corporations or non-profits with annual operating budgets of up to $7 Billion or more.
• Demonstrated success of consistently generating revenue and exceeding quotas by managing process for identifying, qualifying, and closing new business as well as growing opportunities within existing Member base.
• Analytical skills with the ability to drive the business and support programs using data.
• Advanced Excel skills, including proficiency with developing and managing spreadsheets.
• Extensive experience with Salesforce or similar CRM platform.

• Demonstrated experience in thinking creatively and independently to resolve conflict and tackle challenges.

Requires a willingness to work a flexible schedule. Some travel within New England may be required.

Benefits of Joining our Team:  

• Competitive and equitable salary and performance incentive compensation 
• Robust health & dental coverage with high deductible reimbursement 
• Plentiful PTO 
• Generous 401k/IRA retirement plan employer contributions 
• Paid parental leave 
• Professional development annual stipend 
• Work with passionate, collaborative, dedicated and supportive coworkers 
• Regular outings and team events 
• Rewarding mission-driven work 
• Hybrid work environment

Commitment to Diversity:

My client was founded in order to serve the needs of under-resourced communities and is proud to be a woman-led, small organization. They are committed to equity and inclusion, not just in the work they do to foster energy justice, but in how they grow as an organization and as an industry. They seek to have a diverse team to ensure we incorporate all perspectives, while offering opportunities for marginalized communities in the energy industry. 

My client is an equal opportunity employer. They hire, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, national origin, genetics, veteran status, or any of the other characteristics that give each of us a unique perspective and capacities.