Bennington College seeks a collaborative and highly organized Executive Assistant to the President to join our community of staff, faculty and students who are passionate about self-directed learning across the liberal arts. The executive assistant is a highly confidential role providing critical administrative support directly to a dynamic and ambitious President and her Office more broadly. The position reports to the Chief of Staff & Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. As a key member of the administrative support team, the executive assistant manages the schedule and supports the day to day work and leadership of the President of the college, ensuring efficient and productive use of the president’s time. In addition, the executive assistant supports the Chief of Staff & Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, and the operations of the Office of the President. Working in close collaboration with other team members of the Office of the President, the executive assistant works across functions and serves as a liaison with colleagues both internal and external to advance a broad range of projects and initiatives.

The executive assistant excels as an effective communicator, an adept and tactical scheduler, and an agile multi-tasker. The top candidate must have an ability to handle sensitive and confidential information, prioritize competing work and deadlines, and produce highly accurate work. The assistant must be incredibly nimble and able to successfully navigate and thrive in a fast-paced, small team environment.

Responsibilities & Opportunities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for inquiries of the President’s time, working to ensure that guests/appointments are tended to in a welcoming and timely manner, and the office is staffed and ready to receive visitors on a daily basis
• Manage the president’s calendar, and serve as the primary point of contact for meeting requests and scheduling strategy
• Support meetings hosted by the President’s Office, ensuring appropriate space is reserved and prepared, agendas and materials are ready, and meeting details are captured and accessible to the president and president’s office team via appropriate systems and technologies
• Support and coordinate the planning needs of special events, liaising with relevant departments as needed including but not limited to facilities, dining and catering services, IT services, and other collaborating departments
• Coordinate and plan travel itineraries, liaising with relevant departments such as Institutional Advancement as needed, and make proactive recommendations to best leverage the president’s time
• Support virtual meetings, serving as primary host for zoom-based meetings, and coordinating zoom settings as needed
• Support and participate in meetings with the president as requested to take minutes and/or capture takeaways
• Partner and collaborate with the Office of Institutional Advancement to support the content development and timely deployment of strategy as relates to presidential communications; this may include the drafting and editing of correspondence on behalf of the president, and the coordination and sending of acknowledgements, solicitations and meeting requests
• Enter and track relevant correspondence within the constituent management database (Raiser's Edge) for all presidential correspondence
• Partner and collaborate with the Chief of Staff / VP for Strategic Initiatives and the Director of Special Projects on supporting board of trustees meetings, events, correspondence, and the coordination of logistics planning
• Serve as a project manager on specific initiatives as determined by the president and/or Chief of Staff
• Support and provide backup to other team members within the Office of the President
• Track and reconcile receipts of expenditures of the president and president’s office

Bennington serves a diverse student population inclusive of members of ethnically/racially minoritized, international, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities as well as diverse gender identities, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, and political beliefs. Our staff and faculty also reflect diverse and intersecting backgrounds and identities. All employees are expected to be respectful and responsive to these differences in the service of building community that promotes student and employee success and community cohesiveness. Each individual (faculty, staff and students) will be accountable for upholding these values. The College’s approach to pluralism and inclusivity—both as fields of inquiry and practice—is to prioritize flexible thought, and to invite the examination of access, value, power, and privilege through its institutional policies and areas of study. We encourage applicants from diverse realms of interest, backgrounds, experience, and accomplishment to apply.

Skills & Abilities

• Proactive problem solver who works to anticipate the needs of others and projects
• Demonstrates the capacity for thoughtful communication and situational discretion
• Strong attention to detail and a highly organized and consistent approach to one’s work
• Exercises good judgment in a variety of situations as well as the ability to work with humor and grace under pressure and deadlines
• Demonstrates an analytical mind with the ability to synthesize complex sets of information
• Ability and desire to build reciprocal relationships and partnerships with a broad range individuals, from faculty, staff, external partners and students alike
• Demonstrated skills with technology, including MS Office, Google Suite including Google Calendar and Drive, and Zoom supported meetings

Qualifications:

• Prior administrative experience working in the public or private sector, for profit or not for profit, with demonstrated experience working in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment required
• Prior experience as an executive assistant to a chief executive, president or CEO preferred
• Associates degree or equivalent required, Bachelor’s degree preferred

The College

Bennington College is a small residential liberal arts college in southern Vermont, long distinguished for its progressive approach to higher education. The College was founded in 1932 on the principle of active engagement in learning, which is manifest in individualized plans of study developed by students together with faculty. We serve a diverse student population, and our faculty and staff also reflect diverse backgrounds and identities. Our aim is to educate students towards self-fulfillment and constructive social purposes, and we believe that equity, diversity, and inclusivity-in community and in curriculum-are vital to achieving those aims.

Nestled at the foot of the Green Mountains in Vermont, the campus consists of approximately 370 acres. The College was named one of ten with the best architecture by Architectural Digest. From campus, it is a short drive to the cultural offerings of the northern Berkshires in Massachusetts, Albany, New York, and many of Vermont’s top recreational centers. New York City, Boston, and Burlington, Vermont are all within three and a half hours by car.

President Laura Walker

In 2020, Laura R. Walker took office as the 11th President of Bennington College, previously serving as a pioneering media executive as former President & CEO of New York Public Radio for 23 years. Walker is a visionary, mission-oriented, and strategic leader who spearheaded the transformation of NYPR from two city-owned local stations to the nation’s largest independent non-profit public radio station group, and a groundbreaking producer that serves more than 26 million people each month. Under president Walker’s leadership, Bennington College is in the midst of an immensely exciting and transformative period in its history and experiencing extraordinary growth. The college has recently launched a community-driven strategic planning process to articulate a unified and shared vision of Bennington’s future. Simultaneously, college-bound students are choosing Bennington at record rates. This past year alone, the college enrolled the largest class ever with a 23% increase in applications, and has received even more applicants this year, this time by 64%, effectively doubling its pool in just two admissions cycles. The community now approaches nearly 800 students—697 undergraduate and 102 graduate. Learn more about president Walker here.