LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL VP OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS
HISTORY/OVERVIEW OF LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by helping communities acquire desperately needed clean water, and to experience “living water”—the gospel of Jesus Christ— which alone satisfies the deepest thirst. Nearly 20 years ago, Living Water set out to help the church in North America be the hands and feet of Jesus by serving the poorest of the poor. More than a billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day. 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water. For all practical purposes, these statistics refer to the same people; around the world, communities are trapped in debilitating poverty because they constantly suffer from water-related diseases and parasites, and/or because they spend long stretches of their time carrying water over long distances.
That pattern continues today; The staff and volunteers of Living Water trains, consults, and equips local people to implement solutions in their own countries. Remembering the life-changing nature of that first trip in 1990, they also lead hundreds of volunteers on mission trips each year, working with local communities, under the leadership of nationals, to implement water projects. It’s hard to know which lives are changed more—those “serving” or those “being served.” Their training programs in shallow well drilling pump repair, hygiene education, and disciple-making have equipped thousands of volunteers and professionals in the basics of integrated water solutions since 1997. The web site (www.water.cc) gives a very comprehensive overview of all aspects of Living Water. We invite you to take time to digest the contents of the web site and we believe that you will see the tremendous opportunity for service.
It all began in 1990, when a group from Houston, Texas traveled to Kenya and saw the desperate need for clean drinking water. They returned to Houston and founded a 501(c)3 non-profit. The fledgling organization equipped and trained a team of Kenyan drillers, and Living Water Kenya began operations the next year under the direction of a national board.
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LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL VP OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS
THE OPPORTUNITY The vision that emerged was clear, consistent, and in many ways… surprising. It focused on: »» Growing deeper before growing wider »» Maturing all programs to meet consistent standards for water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and disciple-making activities »» Concentrating work in geographic zones to maximize transformation In early 2010, Living Water International looked back at 20 years of history and five years of exponential growth; the board of directors commissioned incoming CEO Mike Mantel with the task of creating a strategic plan for the next five years that would help the organization double its growth and impact yet again. Rather than working behind closed doors using a traditional top-down strategic planning method, Mike empowered a task force to conduct a year-long, highly participatory planning process dubbed “Watershed: Cultivating our Strengths for Growth and Impact.” Summits were held in Latin America, India, Africa, Haiti, and the United States. Hundreds of stakeholders from across Living Water’s global network were challenged to prayerfully rediscover the best of the past and to build on those strengths to create a shared vision of the future.
»» Emphasizing service delivery over time, not just implementation »» Catalyzing innovative disciple making activities in partnership with local churches. »» Helping communities mobilize their own material assets »» Caring for and equipping the people who do the work »» Decentralizing authority, empowering regional and field staff in new ways »» Cultivating a learning organization that pursues excellence and innovation
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THE OPPORTUNITY (continued) Another byproduct of this planning process was the creation of the position of Senior Vice President Global Operations. This new position is a great opportunity for someone: »» Who likes the challenge of working in a new position where s/he can exercise his/ her creativity and strategic abilities to grow an organization’s size but more importantly builds its capacity–and impact »» Who is motivated to work in an organization that is committed to be a strategic partner and leader in ensuring global access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene education
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»» Who is committed to leveraging and implementing Industry-standard (WaSH Sector) best practices, driving performance and accountability and/or building capacity to ensure best practice is accomplished, thereby positioning LWI to be a sought out Water Partner. »» Who is committed to developing other leaders through a team based servant leader approach »» Who is willing to work cross functionally with other senior leaders in an end to end program planning and development approach »» Whose faith commitment is compatible with the evangelical culture at Living Water and who desires to integrate his/her faith with their work. »» Who would enjoy providing spiritual leadership, promoting the Christian ethos of Living Water, and strengthening the spiritual development of his/her staff team.
»» Who enjoys working in cross-cultural, diverse environments where it is obvious that your work is making a difference. Living Water is very much in a growth and impact mode. Every day will bring new challenges. »» Who wants to play a key role in taking an INGO from the Founder-led stage of development to being a high impact Board-led, mission and vision-centric organization.
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THE POSITION The position of Senior Vice President Global Operations reports to the President/CEO. Peer positions to the SVP Global Operations are: »» President Emeritus – Disciple Making Strategies »» Senior Vice President Finance & Administration »» Executive Vice President Equipment & Supply »» Vice President Program Excellence »» Vice President Development »» Vice President Short Term Teams
Another way to envision this position is to view it functionally through the chart which is on the last page of this document. As you can see from this organizational chart, the SVP Operations primarily interfaces with the field operations; working with and through the Regional offices to the country offices. The SVP Global Operations also collaborates with the Fundraising & Engagement group to ensure maximum program impact and funding. This organizational chart also gives the reader an idea of the near term future growth and impact expectations.
In its current configuration, the direct reports to this position are: »» Program Officer – West Africa (2) »» Program Officer – East Africa »» Program Officer – Brazil, India, Peru & Mexico »» Program Officer – Haiti »» Sr. Director, Special Projects (50% Development / 50% Global Operations) »» Administrative Assistant »» Pending -- Regional Operations Director (or Regional Vice Presidents) (1-3)
The headquarters of Living Water is in Stafford, Texas (a suburb of Houston) The SVP Global Operations is expected to reside in the vicinity of the headquarters. While this position may not be the last stop in the successful candidate’s career, it is expected that the successful candidate will make at least a 5-7 year commitment to Living Water. As with most senior leadership positions, this position will be more than a 40-hour-a-week job; travel will be significant. It is expected that attention to family will be a high priority. The candidate’s family situation should be sufficiently strong as to not be adversely affected by the demands of the position. Compensation consists of a competitive base salary dependent on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate. A comprehensive benefit package is provided that includes health and life insurance and a retirement plan.
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THE PERSON The person best suited to lead Global Operations at Living Water will be someone who enjoys:
Recruiting & Staffing By identifying, involving and pulling together “the right people” to address specific issues, solve problems and create solutions
Operational Oversight By overseeing the activities of the Country Offices ensuring that staff, systems and processes are in place and integrated to meet Living Water’s commitments to the organization efficiently and at high levels of excellence.
tion per Living Water’s agreed standards; By establishing collaborative relationships to facilitate the efficient operations and the implementation of effective ministry for Living Water; By ensuring technical assistance to the field, at the appropriate quality and level so that field staff can meet Living Water standards.
Working and Managing Cross culturally By leading and managing a team that comes from and operates in diverse cultural context and backgrounds
Strategic & Budgetary Planning:
By leading a multi-cultural team virtually on three continents
By participating as a member of the Senior Team to lead a comprehensive strategic and budgetary planning process for Living Water;
By communicating and understanding the challenges of leading and managing in 2/3 world context
By managing the supportive resource planning and budgeting process required to deliver the strategic goals.
Develop Capabilities & Capacity By mentoring, developing and managing Regional Operations Directors (or Vice Presidents) and Country Directors. Once the regional offices are built out, the focus of the job will shift to working through the Regional Vice Presidents to help them build capacity.
Attending Meetings Last but certainly not least, the SVP Operations must be able to thrive (perhaps thrive is a strong word) in an environment where there are in a lot of meetings. Some are face to face, some are via SKYPE, some are planned, and some are spur-ofthe-moment, but this level of responsibility and the meeting of ambitious faith goals of Living Water will require a lot of meetings. The right person will be able to balance the “need to meet” against the remainder of the responsibilities.
Building Sustainable Relationships/Networks By developing and implementing guidelines for identifying, developing and maintaining key Partners that can assist with implementa-
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LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL VP OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS
EXPERIENCE It should also be someone who has lived and managed such programs in a 2/3 world context for a minimum of five years
Ideally, we are looking for someone who has lived and worked overseas with an INGO for at least five years and has at least 10 years senior level operational and management leadership ranging from starting and managing country level programs to managing programs in several countries. This person should also be adept in managing cross culturally between donors and national leaders. Career-wise, this should be someone who has implemented all aspects of impactful water programs – from drilling to establishing the water quality to all aspects of social engagement. We are looking for someone who has seen success with water programs where there has been a significant impact and improvement in the overall health, hygiene, sanitation, and disciple-making in the local area – someone who has demonstrated success in facilitating the engagement of the local community towards ownership and sustainability of the programs and projects.
Having stated the ideal, we don’t want to place artificial limits which would keep us from considering men and women from the private sector who have all the requisite skills and experience (i.e. management, leadership, involvement with water and related projects, etc.). In this case, in addition to management, leadership, involvement with water and related projects, the primary consideration would be that the person have related country level and or regional level “cross cultural” leadership / management experience with overseas international cross cultural related experience in a 2/3 world environment not simply Europe or developed Asia.
EDUCATION An undergraduate degree is mandatory. A Master’s or other advanced degree is preferred.
Given the recruiting and staffing and capability-and capacity-building aspects of this position, a strong international relational network would serve someone well in this position.
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INQUIRY PROCESS When formulating your resume for this position, please include the following information for each position you have held in the past 15 years: Employer (name of organization)
Over the years, we have found that one can learn only so much from the resume. From the following 7 questions, please respond to #1, #3, #4 and two additional questions of your choosing. We will use your resume and your responses to these essay questions as the basis for our initial conversation.
Your title Your time of employment there (e.g.,1990 – 2001) Annual budget for the organization and your department 2-3 specific achievements or accomplishments that were most meaningful to you while in this position Specific reason why you left the previous job for the next job.
1. Describe your faith in Jesus. Share a bit about your family upbringing, how you came to know Christ and something about your journey with Him. (2-3 pages) 2. What is it about the ministry of Living Water that attracts you? (1-2 pages) 3. Looking back over your career, and using this document as your guide, share with us a bit of how your career experiences to date have prepared you for this position and how your faith has affected your career. (3-5 pages) 4. Looking at LWI’s 5-year strategic plan, provide your reflections on the plan and your recommendations for achieving the plan’s vision. (3-5 pages) 5. Describe your philosophy and theology of community development? (3-4 pages) 6. Describe your view and approach to leading and managing others in a cross cultural global context from both an industry best practice and biblical perspective. (3-4 pages) 7. Provide an example and or describe how you would go about developing a program strategy for a regional level program. (3-4 pages)
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LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL VP OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS
REFERENCES & Contact Information As you move through the search process, thorough reference checking comes into play. Please provide us with names, phone # and Email addresses for four references. •
1 – Supervisor
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1 – Peer
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1-Subordinate
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1-Character Reference
For those who make the short list, we will probably ask for more references. We will notify you prior to contacting your references.
Living Water International has retained the services of SIMA® International, the nation’s premier executive search firm in the area of senior leadership searches for faith-based INGOs to lead the initiative for the above position. Dr. Tommy Thomas, Managing Director and Laura Coverstone, Director of Operations, in the firm’s Nashville office, and Ed Poff from the Connecticut office are managing the search. Tommy W. Thomas, D.Phil. SIMA® International 231 Public Square, Suite 201 Franklin, TN 37064 PH: 615-261-4623 tthomas@simainternational.com
RESUME/APPLICATION SUBMISSION: Laura Coverstone Director of Operations resumes@simainternational.com Please put “Living Water SVP Global Operations” in the subject line.
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