About this role
The Chief Strategy Officer & Chief of Staff (CSO/COS) serves as a strategic advisor to the President & CEO and a key member of the executive leadership team. The role is responsible for translating the credit union's purpose, core beliefs, and long-term vision into an integrated strategy and ensuring that strategic priorities move from concept to measurable execution. The CSO/COS leads enterprise strategic planning, facilitates alignment across the executive team, monitors execution of major strategic initiatives, and provides the CEO with the organizational leverage necessary to advance the credit union's most important priorities. The position also serves as a critical connection point among the CEO, executive leadership team, Board of Directors, and key enterprise initiatives.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
- Enterprise Strategy & Strategic Planning: Leads the development and ongoing refinement of the credit union's multi-year strategy in partnership with the CEO, Board of Directors, and executive leadership team. Translates the organization's purpose, core beliefs, and strategic direction into clear priorities, initiatives, measures, and accountabilities. Leads the annual strategic planning process, including environmental scanning, strategic assumptions, scenario planning, competitive analysis, and prioritization. Establishes an enterprise strategy-management discipline that tracks strategic initiatives, milestones, key performance indicators, dependencies, risks, and outcomes. Promotes disciplined prioritization and helps leadership determine what the organization should stop, start, accelerate, or defer as conditions change.
- Strategic Intelligence, Growth & Transformation: Identifies emerging trends and disruptive forces affecting credit unions, including demographic change, member expectations, technology, artificial intelligence, payments, fintech, economic conditions, regulation, and workforce trends. Evaluates strategic opportunities involving geographic expansion, new markets, products and services, partnerships, fintech relationships, acquisitions, mergers, and other growth opportunities. Develops business cases and decision frameworks for significant enterprise investments and strategic choices. Ensures strategic decisions consider financial performance, member value, organizational capacity, risk, and sustainable community impact. Maintains an external perspective on competitive dynamics and identifies opportunities for the credit union to differentiate and remain relevant over the long term.
- Chief of Staff & CEO Effectiveness: Serves as a strategic advisor and thought partner to the CEO, providing independent analysis, sound judgment, and constructive challenge when appropriate. Increases CEO and executive-team effectiveness by identifying issues requiring leadership attention and ensuring appropriate preparation, coordination, and follow-through. Facilitates executive discussions involving complex or cross-functional issues and drives clarity regarding decisions, ownership, and next steps. Partners with executive leaders to resolve cross-functional barriers and organizational dependencies that could impede strategic execution. Coordinates executive leadership meeting agendas around enterprise priorities, decisions, performance, and strategic issues rather than routine operational reporting. Maintains visibility into major enterprise initiatives and proactively elevates risks, conflicts, resource constraints, or decisions requiring CEO attention.
- Board & Executive Alignment: Partners with the CEO and appropriate executives in preparing Board strategy discussions, retreats, presentations, and decision materials. Helps ensure alignment between Board-approved strategic direction and management execution while maintaining clear distinctions between governance and management responsibilities. Develops concise executive and Board-level reporting that communicates progress, risks, tradeoffs, decisions required, and strategic outcomes. Champions an enterprise perspective and encourages leaders to make decisions based on what is best for the overall credit union rather than individual functions. Performs other executive-level responsibilities and special assignments as directed by the President & CEO.
- Performs other job-related duties as assigned.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience, including significant experience in strategy, financial services, management consulting, enterprise transformation, corporate development, operations, or executive leadership. Required
- Demonstrated experience advising senior executives, leading enterprise strategic planning, managing complex cross-functional initiatives, and preparing executive- and Board-level materials. Required
- Demonstrated ability to evaluate significant business opportunities and influence outcomes without relying solely on direct authority. Required
- Experience working within a complex, regulated financial institution strongly preferred. Credit union experience is desirable but not required when the candidate brings substantial financial-services and strategic leadership experience. Preferred
Education:
- High School Diploma or GED Required
- Bachelors Degree in business administration, finance, economics, strategy, organizational leadership, or an equivalent combination of education experience, or military service. Preferred
- Masters Degree MBA, or equivalent advanced education. Preferred
- Credit Union Development Education (CUDE) and Certified Chief Executive (CCE) certifications. Preferred
Other Skills Required:
- Quality, clarity, and organizational understanding of the enterprise strategy.
- Achievement of strategic objectives, milestones, and expected outcomes.
- Percentage of enterprise strategic initiatives on track and timely visibility into initiatives at risk.
- Speed and quality of enterprise decision-making and resolution of cross-functional issues.
- Executive-team alignment and effectiveness around enterprise priorities.
- Quality and effectiveness of Board strategy discussions and decision materials.
- Realization of expected benefits from major strategic investments and transformation efforts.
- Organizational ability to anticipate and respond to significant changes in the financial-services environment.