Chief Strategy Officer

Our People are Our First Priority:

Woodard & Curran is a national engineering, science, and operations firm with a simple vision for clean water, a safe environment, healthy communities, and happy people. As an employee-owned company, we strive to cultivate diverse teams and encourage collaboration in an equitable and inclusive culture.

We believe companies who truly put their people first deliver the best work, so we prioritize wellbeing and flexibility and constantly engage in shaping an enjoyable workplace where people feel they belong. We value individuals who are authentic, autonomous, and want to collaborate across the organization. Here, professionals at any level can grow their careers through challenging and innovative work, receiving recognition and rewards along the way. And we operate with a mission-oriented commitment to the environment.

How You’ll Make a Difference:

Navigate the waters of a growing and resilient industry. Woodard & Curran is seeking a Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) who will inspire commitment to clear strategic plans while leading and partnering in decision-making that sustains organizational change. In this role on the Executive Leadership Team, you will balance strategy formulation and execution, exercising influence at all levels of the organization, to pursue, as well as monitor client, competitor, and overall industry trends. In doing so, you will drive a market approach based on leveraging the full power of Woodard & Curran talent to create value for our clients. You will promote organizational values and commitment to the development of employees as leaders throughout Woodard & Curran.

What We Do for Our Employees, and What You Will be a Part of:

Nurture Career Growth. Career growth takes many forms at Woodard & Curran. We set goals with our people and provide a diversity of work experience and locations to give them a working knowledge that’s as broad as it is deep. We believe in building leadership at every level of the organization, and provide a performance enablement approach, opportunities for mentorship and continuous learning, customizable career paths, and tuition assistance.

Prioritize Flexibility and Wellbeing. We know all good work begins and ends with a happy, healthy team so we take wellbeing seriously. We offer flexibility in schedules and location whenever possible. We have a robust safety program, comprehensive benefits, 401k match, paid parental leave, and other tools and resources designed to support employees in their journey to whole-life balance.

Cultivate Belonging. Diverse teams working together in an equitable, inclusive culture provide the right environment for our employees to thrive. Our managers, Equity Committee, DEI Manager and seven Employee Resource Groups collaborate with the goal of providing a welcoming and respectful workplace for everyone. Our commitment includes a firm-wide equity training program to support ongoing learning. At Woodard & Curran we care about each other and create settings where people can connect. Whether we’re hanging out in virtual get togethers, gathering to celebrate accomplishments, or taking a walk together at lunch, we believe in sharing our whole selves.

Reward and Recognize. We give our people freedom and accountability, while offering recognition and reward for contributing to the success of their team and the company. Woodard & Curran recognizes achievement through our, employee-run recognition program and bonus and incentive opportunities. And, as an employee-owned company, we have expanded stock ownership opportunities allowing more employees to have a voice in the future of the company and experience the pride that comes with ownership.

What You Will Be Doing At Woodard & Curran

• Develop and lead teams that maintain strong marketplace connections, anticipating changes and identifying opportunities for advancement, innovation, and disruption
• Work as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and partner with other Executive Leaders to develop and implement strategy
• Enable innovation and resulting improvements through collaboration & information-sharing
• Oversee and ensure the implementation of marketing strategies that tell Woodard & Curran’s compelling story
• Identify, prioritize, and advance critical business development initiatives to achieve sustainable growth that outpaces industry, consistent with our mission, vision, values, and strategy
• Build synergies by leveraging people, data and infrastructure
• Lead company-wide change management efforts including identifying and managing barriers and resistant behaviors
• Develop evidence-based metrics to demonstrate and communicate progress, and to identify early indicators of needed interventions
• Regularly assess all components of the existing strategic and tactical plans to ensure relevance in a dynamic environment and recommend plan adjustments as needed.
• Oversee the direction and deployment of resources to support our CSR/ESG; funding and financing; innovation and technology; intellectual property; and DEI strategies
• Inspire employees and serve as role model for the behaviors critical to effect needed change, and help teams and leaders understand what they need to do to bring about specific needed changes
• Lead and develop teams focused on marketing, business development, funding, data science, and internal communications

The list of duties is not intended to be all inclusive and other duties may be assigned as needed.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS

• STRATEGIC: Taking a long-range, broad approach to problem solving and decision making through objective analysis, thinking ahead and planning.
• COMMUNICATION: Explaining things clearly and thoroughly; expressing thoughts and ideas readily; keeping others well informed; clearly setting forth viewpoints; being explicit about what is needed or wanted.
• EXCITEMENT: Getting others enthusiastic and involved; engaging in a high energy manner; generating excitement; being lively and dynamic; creating a high activity environment.
• MANAGEMENT FOCUS: Making things happen, being influential; willing to take command; providing guidance to others; taking over a group; acting as a facilitator

What You Will Need to Succeed

• Minimum 15 years of cross-functional experience, leading company-wide initiatives and change efforts and working through a variety of business challenges during their career
• Drives to an outcome balancing strategic thinking and vision with strong ability to execute. Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments
• Demonstrated skill and willingness to buck existing processes and attitudes to bring about change and to find ways to reinforce new behaviors
• Applies an equity lens
• Brings new and creative thinking around advancing our vision along with a strong understanding of the human side of transformation
• Possesses a client service mindset
• Has effective interpersonal skills, with proven ability to influence and align executives using fact-based analysis
• Instills trust through honesty, authenticity and transparency
• Demonstrates empathy and humility, seeking ways to grow and be challenged
• Effectively communicates a vision, acting as a change agent while helping others change
• Strong commercial and program management skill set and experience in business analysis and change ROI
• Brings experience driving rigorous tracking to drive business improvement
• Has demonstrated ability to build a strong team, motivate direct and indirect reports and drive strong performance
• Fosters an equitable and inclusive workplace where differences are valued and leveraged

Information

• Location: United States

Industry experience

Education: Masters

Seniority: Board director, CEO, COO, CFO, President, Provost

Years of experience: 10 to 20 years

Taxonomy

• Strategic Planning
• Business Strategy
• Strategic Asset Management
• Strategy Consulting
• Corporate Strategy
• Program Management & Strategic Planning