Vice President, Community Impact

Description

Job Title: Vice President, Community Impact 

Department: Community Impact 

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

FLSA Status: Exempt/Full-time 

Summary 

The VP, Community Impact serves as a key member of Golden Harvest’s Senior Leadership Team and is responsible for guiding the strategy, performance, resources, risk management, and continuous improvement of the Community Impact department. Reporting to the COO, this role ensures that organizational priorities are translated into equitable, measurable food-access solutions that strengthen our hunger-relief network, uplift vulnerable neighbors, amplify community voices, and foster sustainable partnerships across the region.

The VP leads through a delegated leadership model, supported by three directors who oversee daily operations for the Hunger Relief Network, Community Initiatives, and Innovation. The VP sets the department’s overall direction and standards, aligns and integrates the work of these leaders, removes barriers to progress, addresses high-risk or cross-functional challenges, and maintains final decision-making authority for the department within the scope delegated by the COO.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Lead Community Impact strategy, annual planning, budgeting, staffing, performance management, and risk mitigation to advance organizational goals.
• Advise the COO on material needs, opportunities, risks, and resource decisions.
• Maintain and enhance the department’s operating model, decision rights, service standards, performance measures, leadership cadence, and cross-functional governance.
• Approve material exceptions and elevate enterprise-level, financial, legal, or reputational matters.
• Supervise and mentor Community Impact leaders, ensuring accountability for staff leadership, timely decisions, compliance, data quality, and assigned results.
• Establish shared departmental standards, systems, reporting, and learning practices while preserving each leader’s authority over assigned teams, geographies, portfolios, and initiatives.
• Resolve escalated conflicts involving priorities, resources, risk, or cross-team decisions.
• Provide executive oversight of the Community Impact portfolio, including HRN services, vulnerable population programs, Retail Enablement, charitable food access, neighbor-centered strategies, Urban Farm initiatives, community partnerships, and strategic pilots.
• Approve partner eligibility, onboarding, training, monitoring, recertification, performance, capacity building, corrective action, suspension, and continued participation standards.
• Make final decisions on escalated partner issues that are cross-state, precedent-setting, or high-risk.
• Ensure programs and investments reflect food insecurity data, neighbor experience, geographic access, partner capacity, cultural relevance, operational feasibility, and available resources.
• Evaluate program results and determine when to improve, scale, restructure, or close programs.
• Ensure compliance with Feeding America requirements, government program rules, grant conditions, food safety expectations, partner agreements, and GHFB policies.
• Collaborate with the VP, Operations to translate program needs into sourcing, inventory, transportation, and distribution plans.
• Manage departmental budgets, forecasts, grant deliverables, program costs, and documentation with the COO and CFO.
• Define Community Impact data requirements, performance measures, and digital business needs; partner with Business Intelligence and system owners on data governance, dashboards, reporting, and technology implementation.
• Provide Development with accurate needs, program designs, budgets, outcomes, and grant information; collaborate with Marketing on approved messaging, website content, and collateral.
• Lead departmental workforce planning, succession, leadership development, and performance accountability in partnership with Human Resources.
• Ensure directors and managers serve as the primary leaders responsible for supervising, developing, and managing their teams.
• Build strategic partnerships with schools, health systems, nonprofits, coalitions, and community leaders.
• Personally manage enterprise-level, high-profile, sensitive, or precedent-setting engagements.
• Represent Golden Harvest in relevant community, regional, and sector forums.
• Develop Community Impact policy recommendations and systems-change strategies, ensuring all formal positions and politically sensitive communications follow executive review processes.
• Promote a departmental culture of innovation, continuous improvement, shared responsibility for goals, mission emphasis, and collaboration.

People Leadership & Supervision

• Directly supervise departmental directors and managers and provide executive oversight of all Community Impact employees through established reporting lines.
• Ensure each director and manager leads and supervises their respective teams in alignment with the VP’s direction.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and support to community partners and volunteers as needed.

Requirements

Skills & Competencies

• Executive Judgment: Ability to make sound, timely decisions on complex, high-impact, or precedent-setting matters.
• Strategic Execution: Skill in translating organizational priorities into actionable plans, measurable goals, and effective implementation.
• Leadership of Leaders: Proven ability to supervise directors and managers, build leadership capacity, and foster      accountability across teams.
• Program Portfolio Management: Competence in overseeing diverse, multi-program portfolios and aligning them with mission, data, and resources.
• Partner Network Leadership: Ability to cultivate, manage, and steward strong partner relationships, including high-risk or      cross-state engagements.
• Financial & Grant Stewardship: Skill in managing budgets, forecasts, grant deliverables, and program costs with accuracy and      responsibility.
• Data-Informed Decision-Making: Ability to interpret food insecurity data, performance metrics, and neighbor insights to guide      program design and evaluation.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strength in working effectively across Operations, Development, Marketing, Finance, HR, and Business Intelligence.
• Change Management: Ability to lead organizational and programmatic change with clarity, communication, and      stakeholder alignment.
• Risk Management & Compliance: Competence in identifying and mitigating operational, financial, legal, and reputational risks while ensuring compliance with Feeding America, government programs, grants, and      GHFB policies.
• Cultural Humility: Ability to work respectfully and effectively with diverse communities, partners, and populations.
• Communication & Relationship Building: Skill in representing GHFB, building strategic partnerships, and communicating      with clarity and professionalism.
• Mission-Driven Leadership: Demonstrates integrity, values-aligned decision-making, and commitment to Golden Harvest’s mission and professional standards.

Education and/or Experience    

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, Business, Public Health, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and progressively responsible experience.
• Minimum seven years of progressively responsible leadership experience in hunger relief, community impact, public health, human services, food systems, nonprofit management, business management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading managers, complex programs, partner networks, or geographically dispersed services.
• Ability to obtain work-related certifications offered through Golden Harvest Food Bank (GHFB).
• Must have a valid driver’s license.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally required to lift and/or move up to 35 pounds, and may occasionally be required to lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• Work is primarily performed in an office setting with regular interaction across departments.
• Occasional exposure to warehouse environments where temperatures may vary and where there may be moderate noise levels from equipment and activity.
• Occasional travel between organizational campuses, partner locations, or meetings including occasional evenings, weekends and overnight activities.
• The work environment typically includes standard office equipment, such as computers, phones, printers, and other related technology.