OVERVIEW

The Director General (DG) is the CEO and chief spokesperson for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as well as the principal strategic advisor to the International Board of Directors. In this capacity, this individual represents FSC vis-à vis the organization’s members, stakeholders, clients, and the public on an international level. The DG is also responsible for the design, delivery and updating of the global strategy. Along with the executive leadership team, the DG is accountable for the coordination and management of the organization in support of FSC’s mission, vision, and values. In this role, the DG must inspire, empower, motivate, challenge, build, and serve to ensure the organization's collective effort to continued growth and positive impact on forests globally. In the face of current challenges, the DG is responsible to strengthen FSC’s traditional approach and expanding it to all aspects of the multi- functional forest, including climate change, conservation, timber and non-timber forest products. FSC is a membership-based organization whose value lies in the creativity of its balanced and diverse membership to co-create solutions to promote responsible forest management worldwide. FSC is looking for a Director General who values membership, diversity, sees conflict as an opportunity and builds on the potential to create collaboration for the forests and people who depend on them.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Strategic Leadership: 

  • Develop and communicate a clear vision and global strategy for FSC, aligned with the statutes and the organization's mission and goals. 
  • Lead the implementation of the global strategy and consolidate action across the regions, strengthen membership engagement, move towards a workable decentralization approach, and create as many spaces as possible for discussions around responsible forest stewardship. 
  • Be accountable for the formulation and execution of sub-strategies (through delegation to the executive leadership team) to advance responsible forest management practices and sustainable supply chains. 
  • Identify emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in forests and sustainability, and adapt the organization's governance structures accordingly to speed up processes.

2. Board, Membership and Stakeholder Engagement:

  • Work closely, and collaboratively, with the Board, providing timely updates on FSC’s strategic, financial, and programmatic performance, and providing recommendations for informed decision-making. 
  • Ensure Board’s strategic guidance is followed, and delegate accordingly to provision proper response by the organization.
  • Ensure systems are in place to maintain continuous and transparent communications with the Board. 
  • Foster relationships with key stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, certificate holders, forests owners, managers industry partners, workers, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, to promote collaboration and support for FSC's mission. 
  • Represent FSC at national and international forums, conferences, and events to advocate for forest stewardship.

3. Organizational Management: 

  • Be a leader of leaders by being a source of counsel and guidance to the different entities of FSC globally. 
  • Remain abreast of financial, technological, competitive, and regulatory factors that could affect FSC and its members.
  • Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in several countries where FSC entities are established.
  • Drive innovation and modernize systems and procedures so that FSC can deliver better value for its clients and members, consistent with the global strategy and regulatory frameworks.
  • Identify and respond with agility to potential new opportunities; continue to evolve the organization to stay ahead of the competition.
  • Develop a culture of cross-sectoral co-operation, responsiveness, operational excellence, organizational effectiveness, and informed decision-making through proper planning, metrics, creativity, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
  • Together with the executive team, oversee the day-to-day operations of FSC, ensuring effective and efficient utilization of resources to achieve organizational objectives. 
  • Work with the Board to provide regular updates, seek input, and align strategies with the organization's governance structure and global strategy.

4. Executive Team Leadership: 

  • Inspire, coach, develop, and provide direct oversight to the executive team. 
  • Ensure a robust, viable talent pipeline through hiring, succession planning, and promoting a culture of continuous learning.
  • Provide strong team leadership, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability. 
  • Promote an inclusive leadership culture which values and respect the diversity of team members and customers to enhance the well-being and performance of the organization and its stakeholders. 
  • Provide day-to-day cohesive leadership to the executive team to implement the global strategy and instill a focus on improving/maintaining operational excellence.
  • Lead in a participatory style that motivates executive team members to high levels of productivity, quality, accountability, and success.

5. Global Impact: 

  • Drive the expansion of FSC's presence and impact across regions, promoting responsible forest management practices, sustainable forest product supply chains and certification standards. 
  • Monitor and evaluate the impact of FSC’s initiatives, tracking progress toward FSC’s vision, mission and strategic goals and adjusting strategies as needed. 
  • Help create, be involved with, and support a wide variety of forums through which FSC’s impact can be expressed clearly.

6. Advocacy and Awareness: 

  • Champion FSC's mission, vision and values in the public domain, advocating for responsible forest management through thoughtful leadership, stakeholder engagement, and media engagement. 
  • Ensure coordination among entities of the FSC group to raise awareness of FSC's work and influence public perception through positive impact and brand value.

7. Financial Sustainability: 

  • Develop, and oversee, the organization's financial strategies, ensuring fiscal responsibility, diversification of funding sources, and long-term sustainability. 
  • Define strategic fundraising efforts to secure resources for FSC's initiatives and projects.

KEY LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES 

  • Strategic Clarity: Envision the future, develop a clear strategy, and enable innovation to drive sustainable organization performance.
  • Organizational Alignment: Define, develop, and align plans, structures, and systems within, and across, business units to optimize the delivery of strategic outcomes to reach the goals of the global strategy. Attainment of goals is monitored through SMART goals and easily understood metrics.
  • Results/Change Execution: Drive the execution of plans or change initiatives towards delivering successful outcomes at pace to reach the goals of the global strategy.
  • Talent Developer: Attract, inspire, and develop talent to maximize their contribution, as well as secure a sustainable pipeline of leaders and other key talent.
  • Team Builder: Enhance, and sustain, collective performance by creating, developing, and championing high performing teams. Promote a team culture of collaboration and mutual accountability.
  • Stakeholder Influencer: Identify, and cultivate, influential relationships with the Board of Directors, members, and other key stakeholders with an ambassadorial impact that creates and drives value for the organization.
  • Leadership Agility: Deal effectively with new and unfamiliar situations by developing sustainable solutions despite multiple dimensions of complexity; optimize the contribution and impact of team members and employees; ambitiously reach for higher goals; and pursue and champion personal growth through challenging and stretching contexts.
  • Negotiator and conflict expert: Deal effectively, and wisely, with tensions and conflicts and use it as an opportunity to create new areas of growth.

EXPERIENCE NEEDED AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IDEAL PROFILE

The Director General will need: 

  • Experience, credentials, and credibility to command respect of the communities that are involved in FSC’s scope and mission.
  • Palpable passion for the mission, vision, and values of FSC International, and foster a clear vision for advancing them.
  • Experience working and leading in large, international organizations, preferably with some combination of not-for-profit, public sector, and/or commercial exposure.
  • Outstanding interpersonal skills and leadership qualities that apply to leading a large organization and working closely with a diverse board.
  • A bias for continuous improvement and the diplomatic skill to guide others to consensus.
  • A healthy sense of humor and balance of confidence and humility.

How to Express Interest

We appreciate all expressions of interest, referrals, or nominations for this role. A comprehensive CV along with a cover letter which sets out your motivation to take on such a role and encapsulates the aspects of your experience relevant to the required criteria should be submitted, preferably by 15 January 2024 to: FSC.DG@odgersberndtson.com.

Or to arrange for a conversation in confidence, please contact:

Derek Wilkinson
Partner & Global Co-Head, Not-for-Profit Practice
+1 202 320 2660
Derek.Wilkinson@odgersberndtson.com

and/or

Dr. Nicola Müllerschön
Partner, Not-for-Profit Practice
+49 69 95777 01
Nicola.Muellerschoen@odgersberndtson.com

For FSC, inclusiveness and diversity are important values. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds and are entirely committed to consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age and disability.  

We look forward to your application!

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