In a newly created role, CLIA’s Chief of Staff will be a member of the senior leadership team, serving as a confidential adviser, integrator, communicator and project manager. Working cross-vertically with other senior CLIA leaders around the world, as well as with the functional leaders responsible for Government Affairs, Maritime Policy, Strategic Communications, Membership & Commercial and Finance & Operations to ensure excellent implementation of executive functions and the organization’s global success.
Essential Job Functions
Direct the Office of the CEO including:
Track and drive progress against organization priorities, providing relevant updates to the CEO and appropriate internal and external stakeholders.
Routinely convene the senior leadership team to discuss matters of mutual interest and function as the key liaison to the senior leadership team, communicating updates, deadlines and information as needed.
Drive the agenda, materials and manifests for key CEO meetings, ensuring post-conversation follow-up and delegation and serving as a proxy when appropriate.
Assist CEO with culture - and human resources-oriented priorities ranging from employee recognition to issues management.
Ability to manage multiple competing priorities with different stakeholders, prioritizing them in order to prevent workflow bottlenecks and enhancing decision making to facilitate senior leader and executive office deliverables.
Identify and recommend ways to operate more efficiently, rank priorities and redirect non-business critical time disruptions to appropriate handlers.
In coordination with the executive office and CLIA general counsel, ensure timely and proper documentation of Board meetings, GEC and regional governance meetings is complete. Monitor, identify and mitigate any areas of noncompliance with Global Entity and regional affiliate entities bylaws, policies and affiliation agreements.
Supervise executive assistant and additional staff as needed.
Manage CLIA’s external gifting program, ensuring gifts are provided to public and private sector officials as needed.
Support Cruise Industry Charitable Foundation (CICF) functions.
Project manage key CEO priorities
Oversee CLIA’s annual strategic planning process, including the development of a timeline and management of key deadlines to facilitate progress.
Develop cross-functional opportunities that do not have a clear home within the organization, including delegation and/or execution.
Support the needs of the Global Executive Committee.
Working closely with the Vice President for Membership Experience to support the Global Board of Directors, including driving the agenda and coordinating the delivery of meeting materials and overall engagement.
Proactively plan for new opportunities
Monitor industry and related economic, tourism, policy news and trends to identify opportunities for engagement and mitigate against risk.
Assess incoming requests for CLIA engagement, determining the most appropriate CLIA participant and confirming follow-up.
Assume the lead on the development and execution of new initiatives as directed by the CEO, ensuring follow-up and accountability.
Primary and essential responsibilities outlined. Other duties may be assigned as required.
Requirements
Required Education and Experience
Basic qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in business, international, communications or related field.
Minimum 5 years of executive level experience in a chief of staff position, organizational effectiveness, communications or related field.
Demonstrated achievement in a role requiring executive-level problem solving with minimal direction and impeccable judgment.
Extensive written and verbal communications experience at an executive level.
Previous supervisory experience.
Willingness to work a flexible schedule that can include evenings and weekends as needed.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally when necessary.
Proficiency with Apple product/systems, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Additional qualifications:
Trade association, tourism, hospitality, global consulting firm (big four or equivalent peer) and/or political campaign experience preferred.
Project management experience essential.
Master’s degree preferred.
Highly organized and analytical, with the ability to anticipate, plan for, prioritize and realign tasks in a challenging environment while remaining positive and calm under pressure.
Strong aptitude for clear verbal and written communications.
Well-developed interpersonal skills that demonstrate the ability to build relationships with internal and external collaborators at every level.
Possess an unwavering level of integrity and professionalism that demonstrates sound judgment and tact at all times with the ability to be discreet in handling confidential and sensitive information.
Experienced overseas traveler helpful.
Work Environment
This position is based in our Washington, D.C. office as part of a hybrid work environment with a mix of days in the office and days working remotely.
The noise level in the work environment usually is quiet.
Required Travel
This position requires domestic and international travel, roughly 30% of the time.
Other Duties
Please note this job description is not designed to encompass a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. These duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Reasonable Accommodation
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.
EEO Statement
CLIA provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
CLIA is the world's largest cruise industry trade association, providing a unified voice and leading authority of the global cruise community. On behalf of its members, affiliates, and partners, the organization supports policies and practices that foster a secure, healthy, and sustainable cruise ship environment, promoting positive travel experiences for the more than 30 million passengers who have cruised annually. The CLIA community includes the world's most prestigious ocean, river, and specialty cruise lines; a highly trained and certified travel agent community; and widespread industry stakeholders, including ports & destinations, ship development, suppliers, and business services. CLIA represents 95% of the world’s ocean-going cruise capacity, as well as 54,000 travel agents, and 15,000 of the largest travel agencies in the world.
The organization's global headquarters are in Washington, DC, with regional offices located in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia.
CLIA’s Mission:
*CLIA is the global organization that fosters our members' success by advocating, educating and promoting the common interests of the cruise community.
*CLIA represents the ...interests of the cruise industry community.
*50+ Cruise Lines – From ocean to specialty cruise ships, CLIA lines represent more than 95 percent of global cruise capacity.
*350+ Executive Partner Members – As key suppliers and partners to the cruise lines, executive partners play a major role in the successful operation of cruising, including ports & destinations, ship development, suppliers and business services.
*13,000 Global Travel Agency and 50,000 Travel Agent Members – Our travel agency members include the largest agencies, hosts, franchises and consortia in the world.
*CLIA Cruise Lines serve nearly 30 million passengers annually.
