Executive Director
ABOUT NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
The world’s leading organization for journalists seeks an Executive Director who is enthusiastic and energized to propel the Club into the future and leverage opportunities across a multifaceted and exciting business.
The National Press Club is a private club in the heart of Washington, D.C. Its membership includes some of the most prominent broadcast, digital and multimedia journalists in Washington, its environs, and from around the globe. The Club provides a gathering place for members and well as a venue for high-profile newsmakers, such as politicians, heads of state, business leaders, and celebrities.
ROLE
The Executive Director’s primary role is to ensure a welcoming place for members and a distinguished venue for newsmakers while achieving the Club’s revenue and membership objectives.
Working with top journalists, media organizations, and peer organizations, the Executive Director is responsible for a multi-million-dollar budget with a variety of revenue lines, including membership, catering and room rental, bars and restaurants, and a broadcast operations center featuring a best-in-class studio located in the heart of downtown Washington.
The Executive Director is tasked with building revenue and driving membership while maintaining full awareness of the news cycle and developments in journalism, including press freedom.
ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES
Business Acumen:
In the meetings and hospitality space, the pandemic-changed landscape requires a leader who is entrepreneurial and can recognize and adapt to new risks while seizing emerging opportunities. The desire to return to in-person gatherings must be balanced by the need to offer top-notch hybrid experiences for those who attend remotely.
The Executive Director:
- • Demonstrates flexibility and creativity in developing new revenue streams, and adapting to changing external norms in Washington DC
• Considers the future of work and how the next generation of members use the Club, whether as a co-working space or a hub
• Creates a budget that meets board objectives, allocating those resources and ensuring that staff executes the board objectives
• Develops aggressive sales, marketing, and net revenue plans and successfully implements them
• Sets qualitative and quantitative Club goals in consultation with the Board, and monitors progress toward those goals
• Maintains the highest level of fiduciary responsibility by ensuring the club meets all debt, contractual, and lease term obligations. Ensures that all audits and financial reporting are complete and accurate
• Ensures all expense control systems are in place with close monitoring of all department expenses including revenue to payroll ratio
• Prepares for the future with appropriate forecasting models and contingencies for a rainy day
• Creates and executes a plan for membership recruitment
People Skills:
While managing a top-notch professional staff, ranging from office workers to unionized banquet and restaurant servers, the Executive Director must be attentive to the needs and priorities of thousands of the Club’s members, including as represented by its Board of Governors and other leaders elected the membership, working most closely with the NPC president. The ideal candidate:
- • Demonstrates agility and circumspection in dealing with a board and leadership that changes annually.
• Sets realistic and achievable, but challenging goals for department heads and staff, and provides training to encourage skills growth and career advancement
• Is adept at explaining business considerations to a board that is not necessarily oriented toward business, and communicates clearly and frequently with the board in general
• Recruits, selects and develops high-achieving and member-focused staff
• Is well-organized, transparent, and diligent about documentation
• Values and gives high priority to diversity, equity, and inclusivity among the staff and membership, and welcomes a wide range of often conflicting viewpoints
• Creates a welcoming, diverse, inclusive workspace and gathering place that meets the expectations of a new generation of workers and members
• Possesses a leader’s mindset that inspires excellence among the staff
• Is highly professional, constructive, attentive to detail, and agile when operating an enterprise in the center of the nation’s capital that is often visited by VIPs, heads of state, and other government officials
• Evaluates staff regularly through performance reviews
• Maintains exceptional member relations by creating quality member services, instilling respect for members among the staff, and maintaining an excellent clubhouse atmosphere
• Analyzes member attrition to identify and resolve weaknesses
• Takes initiative to solve problems and handles member complaints quickly
Facility Management:
In addition to managing a large and diverse staff, the Executive Director must oversee capital improvements and should have experience in maintaining the physical space for current members while also adopting a modernization plan that will make the Club attractive for the next generation of journalists and communicators.
The ideal candidate:
- Has an eye for detail and will seek to make the Club sparkle
- Oversees care and maintenance of all the Club’s physical assets and facilities
- Ensures the highest standards for food, beverage, entertainment, and other Club services
- Ensures members adhere to House Rules
- Maintains security appropriate to the membership and high-profile guests
Vision:
The organization requires a leader with a forward-looking perspective, modern sensibilities, and new ideas, but who also can appreciate and honor a rich history and culture. The Executive Director 1) balances the legacy of the Club with the need to innovate, and 2) inspires the Board with a vision that is sustainable over multiple administrations.
QUALIFICATIONS
• 10+ years in club management or equivalent
• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field, such as hospitality management, business administration, marketing, and communications
• Experience in a role that required fiduciary responsibility
• Experience in a role that required management of multiple departments at an organization that employed at least 30 people
• Experience working with union employees
• Excellent communications and interpersonal skills
• A passion for news and current events
• High energy
COMPENSATION/BENEFITS
• Base Salary is commensurate with the candidate’s qualifications and experience. Bonus and profit-sharing take the total compensation package to the range of $225,000 – $275,000
• Full benefits package to include Health Insurance, Life, Dental, and Vision Insurance, Vacation, 401k
• Education allowance, including industry dues
REPORTS TO
President of the Press Club for day-to-day matters; the Personnel Committee (comprised of 4 board members)
DIRECT REPORTS
Membership, Finance, Kitchen, Operations, Sales and Marketing, and Media Services
HR, IT, Security, Web, and Archives fall under one individual
CLUB OVERVIEW
Since 1908, the National Press Club has been Washington’s home for news, business, and social events in the nation’s capital, hosting more than 2,000 public and private events annually featuring global leaders in media, business, politics, sports, and entertainment. Our full-service meeting and conference center provides in-house gourmet catering, professional A/V, and multimedia production services, giving you a full range of options to accommodate 15 to 1,500 guests for in-person and/or virtual events.
Nestled in the heart of downtown Washington between The White House, Washington Monument, and Capitol Hill with easy access to Metro, parking, and hotels, the National Press Club offers a unique historic setting like no other.
Perched atop the National Press Building within sight of the White House and just down Pennsylvania Avenue from the U.S. Capitol, the National Press Club is the meeting place in Washington for newsmakers and journalists. Through its doors have come presidents, premiers, kings and queens, Cabinet secretaries, senators, and House members, movie stars and sports heroes, titans of business and finance – a who’s who of the 20th and the 21st centuries – eager to share their views on current events with the media and the public.
The Club offers 12 private rooms ranging in size to accommodate various social or professional meetings and events. The Fourteenth Floor is reserved for members only. Rooms on the Fourteenth floor include The Reliable Source and The Truman Lounge.
The National Press Club also is the home to state-of-the-art multimedia production studios. The production studios allow journalists to connect live with audiences around the world and create compelling multimedia content to engage their target audiences on-air and online. The 9,700+ square foot facility features two studios with fully equipped control rooms, two media management post-production suites, and full connectivity/transmission services via satellite, fiber, or IP. All services are offered in-house as well as on-location.
CLUB DETAILS
2700 Active Members
There is no Initiation Fee
$1.8M Annual Dues Volume
$13-14M Gross Volume
$5.8M F&B Volume, $800,000 à la Carte
$3.5M Media Services
18 Standing Committees
15 Board members
Website: https://www.press.org/
Informational Video: https://youtu.be/LeKfitZNxZI