Proc. Lead, Ocean & Climate
Manages ZEMBA's commercial tender process, overseeing the procurement of clean energy-powered maritime fuels
Leads the design, implementation, and oversight of the procurement strategy, including bid review, evaluation, and commercial negotiations
Involves relationship management with members, bidders, and partners, while also providing strategic input and program management for ZEMBA
About the Company
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.
The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program (EEP) explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. In addition to energy and environmental policy, which the program has been addressing for several decades, EEP actively and purposefully engages in climate change policy—mitigating the effects of climate change, adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and the international cooperation needed to achieve these goals.
About the Job
The Procurement Lead is a leadership role within EEP supporting the Zero Emission Maritime Buyer’s Alliance (ZEMBA). The Procurement Lead will serve as the operational lead of ZEMBA’s commercial tender process, including managing the design, implementation, and oversight of ZEMBA’s procurement for clean energy-powered maritime fuels. This role is both strategic and operational in nature, and ideal for an individual who has passion for sustainability and a robust procurement background, creative problem-solving skills, strong project management, communications, analysis, and organizational skills required to lead a crucial pillar of this innovative initiative.
Key factors for success include experience facilitating interdisciplinary teams, demonstrated good judgment in the face of complexity, and an empathetic leadership style that welcomes new ideas and thrives in a relatively “flat” workplace structure. This position reports to the Senior Director for Ocean & Climate.
Responsibilities
Procurement Design and Implementation:
Lead process to develop, refine, execute, and manage ZEMBA’s procurement strategy for clean energy-powered maritime fuels and innovative technologies
Manage refinement of critical materials and resources required to operationalize ZEMBA’s procurement process, including bidder- and member-facing materials, eligibility requirements, evaluation framework, and more
Manage bid review and evaluation process, including identifying questions for bidders, leading discussions with bidders and fuel producers, and refining and documenting bid evaluation framework
Lead commercial negotiations with shortlisted bidders
Draft technical and strategic materials to facilitate decision-making throughout procurement process
Identify, recommend, and implement process improvements to inform future procurement rounds
Provide thought leadership on strategic focus of future procurement rounds and opportunities to maximize impact, including curiosity and willingness to bring ideas to new project areas where collective procurement can address thorny sustainability issues
Relationship Management:
Coordinate amongst EEP colleagues, technical advisors, and legal counsel to manage shared workload, drive toward project milestones, and engage in collaborative problem-solving
Lead Aspen team engagement with key knowledge partners on verification of service delivery members secure through ZEMBA process
Provide technical analysis and input to support member recruitment efforts and ongoing member education and engagement
Lead response to procurement-related questions from current and prospective members
Manage communications and relationships with prospective bidders, fuel producers, and other value chain actors
Program Management:
Serve as a subject matter expert on procurement, supply chain management, and logistics for Ocean & Climate team
Co-lead development and management of ZEMBA program plan and share accountability for delivering on key milestones
Provide technical analysis and strategic input to inform overarching initiative performance targets and metrics
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in economics, business administration, engineering, or related field
10+ years work experience in corporate or federal procurement, logistics, and supply chain management
Experience managing corporate or federal procurement processes, specifically requests for proposals (RFPs)
Experience in global sourcing, understanding international markets, negotiation, and managing international suppliers
Familiarity with advanced market commitments a plus
Experience with corporate sustainability, climate or energy policy, alternative fuels, or carbon markets a plus
Strong proficiency in Excel-based modeling and analysis
Ability to distill complex and technical information and communicate effectively and succinctly through written and verbal means
Ability to manage time effectively, including meeting tight timelines, work autonomously and with a small team, and manage multiple processes and projects at the same time
Strong professional and diplomatic interpersonal skills
Strong customer service and solution-focused orientation – a “Yes, and” attitude
Willingness and ability to travel, as much as 10-30% of the time during certain times of the year
Gifts Coordinator
Provides comprehensive admin support to the Major & Principal Gifts team, including managing calendars, preparing reports, and drafting donor communications
Supports donor cultivation and stewardship by collecting materials, assisting with gift agreements, and managing donor recognition
Maintains the CRM database, tracking actions, updating donor information, researching prospects, and supporting portfolio management for major gifts
About the Company
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.
The Institute’s Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) is a central division focused on Institute-wide donor and prospect engagement. Areas of practice include principal and major gift fundraising, corporate and foundation relations, annual giving and membership programming through the Institute’s Society of Fellows, planned-giving, trustee engagement, major events, stewardship, research, gift accounting, and advancement communications.
About the Job
The Major & Principal Gifts Coordinator works directly with the Senior Director and Director (Major & Principal Gifts Team), supporting the organization’s top fundraising priorities and highest-level individual and family foundation donors. In this role, the coordinator will provide support to the Major & Principal Gift Officers assisting with all materials to prepare and support them in their identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of high-net-worth individuals. The coordinator will assist in tracking and logging donors and prospects in the CRM database including recording interactions, gift agreements, and all tasks associated with follow up. Additionally, the Coordinator will assist in supporting activities related to the annual fund and planned giving. As the Institute prepares to go into a large-scale fundraising campaign, it is integral that the OIA Coordinator exhibit strong organizational ability, professionalism, attention to detail, and swift prioritization skills.
This role works directly with the Senior Director and Director. The expectation is for this role to be in our Washington, D.C. office a minimum of 2x a week to collaborate with colleagues.
Responsibilities
Administrative Support:
Supports the Major & Principal Gifts team in tracking deadlines, entering actions in the CRM database, preparing reports, and crafting donor correspondence, emails, and briefings
Responsible for administrative support for the Major and Principal Gift team, which supports the organization’s Institutional Advancement needs
Responsible for managing and supporting donor events and functions, including tracking RSVPs, logistical support, correspondence with attendees, and staffing events as appropriate
Ensures fundraising pages on the website are up-to-date and assists in creating and updating pages as needed
Assist in maintaining Directors’ calendars of meetings, phone calls, and other interactions with donors and prospects. This includes direct interactions with donors, prospects, and support teams to confirm appointments and coordinate logistics
Assist with travel arrangements, reimbursement, and accommodations for the Major & Principal Gift team
Donor Management Support:
The coordinator will create and review reports that show revenue, gifts and pledges received, and progress towards campaigns and goals
Responsible for collecting materials needed for donor cultivation, which includes interacting regularly with OIA and Institute team members
Responsible for the administrative actions related to gift agreements, assisting in creation of donor bios, and reviewing donor recognition listings for Major & Principal Gifts
CRM Database Management:
Responsible for entering and tracking actions and contacts, updating donor information, researching and entering biographical and donor-related information, building prospect lists for geographic and thematic opportunities, and assisting with tracking and supporting portfolio management
Qualifications
Undergraduate (Bachelor’s) degree preferred or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
At least 1-3 years of professional experience, preferably in fundraising, membership or relationship management fields, experience with CRM database management preferred
Passionately interested in fundraising, current events, and trends and ideas related to the Institute's work and mission
Highly motivated, creative professional who can work comfortably in a high-paced and very detail-oriented team environment
Keen sense of personal integrity and discretion with handling sensitive information
Excellent interpersonal skills and experience working with organizational leaders. Ability to represent the Institute to high-level donors in a positive, knowledgeable, and professional manner
Excellent administrative and organizational skills, with an emphasis on time-management, attention to detail, and the ability to organize and implement various activities within a deadline-driven environment
Excellent writing skills in email, letters, and marketing materials, including high-level proofreading
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Excel and Word; experience in Salesforce preferred
Ability to quickly master project management software
Ability to quickly master CRM database software
Ability to quickly master donor research databases and work with data to identify trends and opportunities