Job Listing: Interim Executive Director (Harrison Museum of African American Culture)

Position Type: Part-time, temporary executive engagement 

Term: Three to six months, with a defined end date and the possibility of extension by written agreement 

Reports To: Board of Directors, through the Board Chair and Executive Committee 

Supervises: Operations Manager, Gallery and Visitor Experience staff, contractors, and other assigned personnel 

Location: Roanoke, Virginia, with regular on-site presence at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture 

Position Summary 

The Harrison Museum of African American Culture seeks a part-time Interim Executive Director to provide executive leadership, organizational accountability, external relationship stewardship, and transition planning during a period of institutional change. 

The Interim Executive Director will serve as the Museum’s primary staff-level decision-maker and point of coordination. The role is responsible for translating Board-approved priorities into clear staff direction, maintaining continuity with funders and institutional partners, strengthening development infrastructure, resolving cross-functional decisions, and preparing recommendations for the Museum’s permanent leadership structure. 

The Interim Executive Director will not assume day-to-day scheduling, point-of-sale management, routine facility coordination, invoice documentation, or other functions assigned to the Operations Manager. 

The successful candidate will bring sound executive judgment, strong communication, non profit museum or cultural institution leadership experience, relationship-management capability, and the ability to lead a small institution through ambiguity without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. 

Primary Responsibilities 

1. Executive Leadership and Organizational Priorities 

• Establish and maintain a clear set of institutional priorities based on Board-approved goals, available resources, existing commitments, and organizational risk. 
• Translate strategic direction into specific staff responsibilities, deadlines, and decision points. 
• Determine which initiatives should continue, pause, narrow, be delegated, or be discontinued. 
• Resolve competing priorities across operations, programming, fundraising, partnerships, and administration. 
• Ensure staff time and organizational resources are directed toward the Museum’s highest-priority commitments. 
• Identify issues requiring Board action and present them with clear analysis and recommendations while preventing routine staff-level matters from escalating unnecessarily to the Board. 

2. Staff Leadership and Accountability 

• Provide direct supervision and executive guidance to the Operations Manager and other assigned staff and contractors. 
• Establish clear responsibilities, deliverables, reporting expectations, and decision authority. 
• Conduct regular staff leadership meetings focused on priorities, performance, risks, and next actions. 
• Hold staff and contractors accountable for agreed-upon deliverables. 
• Address unclear ownership, duplication, missed deadlines, and recurring execution gaps. 
• Support staff development while distinguishing coaching needs from performance-management issues. 
• Ensure staff receive consistent direction and are not subject to conflicting instructions from multiple Board members. 
• Recommend staffing, contracting, restructuring, or performance actions when necessary. 

3. Staff-Level Decision-Making 

• Serve as the final staff-level decision-maker for matters within approved budgets, policies, contracts, and Board authority. 
• Make timely decisions regarding organizational priorities, staff assignments, partner coordination, program execution, resource allocation, and routine institutional matters. 
• Establish clear thresholds for decisions that may be made by staff without executive or Board approval. 
• Escalate matters involving material financial exposure, legal risk, personnel actions, public controversy, major contracts, or changes to Board-approved strategy. 
• Ensure escalated matters include options, consequences, and a recommended course of action. 

4. Partner, Funder, and Donor Stewardship 

• Serve as the Museum’s primary staff contact for major institutional partners, funders, sponsors, and selected donors. 
• Review current partner, donor, sponsor, and funder relationships and assign clear relationship ownership. 
• Maintain timely communication with active partners and protect institutional trust during the transition. 
• Coordinate appropriate acknowledgment, reporting, recognition, follow-up, and stewardship. 
• Support the Board Chair and Board members in high-value donor, civic, and institutional relationships. 
• Prepare the Board Chair for major donor, funder, and partner meetings. 
• Ensure relationship history, commitments, next steps, and contact information are documented. 

5. Development Infrastructure 

• Establish a basic fundraising and development operating system. 
• Create or organize a master prospect, donor, sponsor, member, and funder pipeline. 
• Define relationship owners, stages, next actions, potential opportunities, deadlines, and stewardship needs. 
• Develop a practical development calendar covering grants, sponsorships, annual giving, memberships, events, and major donor activity. 
• Coordinate with the Operations Manager on CRM accuracy, donor records, acknowledgments, memberships, and administrative follow-through. 
• Support Board members with donor introductions, sponsorship outreach, and relationship stewardship assignments. 
• Recommend the staffing, consulting, committee, and system resources required for a sustainable development function. 
• Advance fundraising infrastructure without assuming that the Interim Executive Director will personally execute every solicitation. 

6. Public and Institutional Representation 

• Represent the Museum professionally with civic leaders, funders, partners, community organizations, media, and institutional stakeholders. 
• Serve as an authorized spokesperson on operational and institutional matters consistent with Board-approved messaging. 
• Communicate continuity, stability, and direction during the transition. 
• Participate in selected public events, partner meetings, donor conversations, and civic engagements. 
• Coordinate with the Board Chair on matters requiring Board authority, high-level civic relationships, major donor cultivation, or sensitive public positioning. 
• Protect the Museum from inconsistent, premature, or unauthorized public commitments. 

7. Board Reporting and Governance Support 

• Provide the Board with concise, decision-oriented reporting. 
• Prepare regular executive reports covering: 
• Institutional priorities. 
• Staff accountability. 
• Financial and operational risks. 
• Development activity. 
• Partner and funder stewardship. 
• Program and event status. 
• Decisions required from the Board. 
• Distinguish between informational updates, staff-level decisions, and matters requiring Board action. 
• Support the Board Chair in preparing Executive Committee and Board meeting priorities. 
• Help maintain appropriate boundaries between governance and operations. 

8. Permanent Leadership and Organizational Structure 

• Assess the Museum’s current leadership, staffing, operational, fundraising, governance, and administrative needs. 
• Determine whether the long-term structure should include a full-time Executive Director, part-time executive leader, managing director, development leader, or another model. 
• Evaluate the appropriate division of responsibility among executive leadership, operations, gallery and visitor experience, development, collections, and administrative support. 
• Recommend a permanent leadership structure that is financially realistic and operationally sustainable. 
• Develop or refine the permanent executive position description. 
• Prepare transition documentation for the permanent leader. 
• Ensure institutional knowledge, systems, partner relationships, and pending decisions are documented before the interim term concludes. 

Role Boundaries 

The Interim Executive Director will not routinely perform responsibilities assigned to the Operations Manager, including: 

• Building routine staff and volunteer schedules. 
• Filling ordinary coverage gaps. 
• Managing point-of-sale activity. 
• Maintaining gift shop inventory. 
• Processing routine invoices or payment documentation. 
• Performing bookkeeping or reconciliation. 
• Coordinating routine facility access, maintenance, or vendor visits. 
• Managing routine opening and closing procedures. 
• Entering routine CRM, donor, membership, or attendance data. 
• Serving as the Museum’s default event logistics coordinator. 
• Personally completing work that should be delegated to staff, contractors, volunteers, or committees. 

The Interim Executive Director is accountable for ensuring these functions are owned, performed, monitored, and corrected when necessary. The role is not responsible for personally executing them. 

Board-Reserved Matters 

The Interim Executive Director may not take the following actions without appropriate Board or Executive Committee approval: 

• Approve or materially revise the annual budget. 
• Incur debt or materially unbudgeted financial obligations. 
• Enter into major contracts beyond delegated authority. 
• Hire or terminate senior leadership without authorization. 
• Change employee or contractor compensation beyond delegated authority. 
• Adopt or amend Board policies. 
• Approve major changes to institutional strategy. 
• Sell, transfer, deaccession, or materially alter Museum collection assets. 
• Commit the Museum to major partnerships, legal obligations, or public positions outside approved authority. 
• Take actions reserved to the Board under the Museum’s bylaws. 

Performance Measures 

Success in the role will be measured by the extent to which: 

• Routine decisions no longer default to the Board Chair. 
• Staff have clear assignments, authority, supervision, and accountability. 
• Institutional priorities are documented and actively managed. 
• Operational and program risks are identified before becoming emergencies. 
• Partner, donor, and funder relationships receive consistent follow-up. 
• A functioning development pipeline and calendar are established. 
• Board reports identify decisions, risks, progress, and next actions clearly. 
• Staff-level decisions are made promptly and within delegated authority. 
• The Operations Manager remains focused on operations rather than being informally converted into the executive function. 
• A viable permanent leadership structure and transition plan are presented to the Board. 
• The Board contributions are redirected toward major donors, civic relationships, Board leadership, institutional strategy, partnerships, public representation, and executive decisions. 

Required Qualifications 

• Significant leadership experience in a nonprofit, museum, cultural, educational, civic, philanthropic, or community-based organization. 
• Demonstrated experience supervising staff and holding teams accountable. 
• Experience managing organizational priorities during transition, growth, restructuring, or leadership change. 
• Strong judgment in ambiguous and time-sensitive situations. 
• Ability to distinguish executive work from operational execution. 
• Experience working with nonprofit boards and maintaining governance-management boundaries. 
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills. 
• Experience managing relationships with funders, donors, partners, government representatives, or civic stakeholders. 
• Familiarity with fundraising, development systems, donor stewardship, grants, sponsorships, or membership programs. 
• Ability to build practical systems without overcomplicating a small organization. 
• Demonstrated discretion with confidential financial, personnel, donor, and governance information. 
• Commitment to African American history, cultural preservation, public education, and community-centered institutional leadership. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Executive Director, Interim Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director, senior nonprofit consultant, or comparable leadership experience. 
• Experience with museums, historic sites, cultural institutions, arts organizations, or community heritage organizations. 
• Experience guiding an organization through executive transition. 
• Experience developing permanent leadership structures or supporting executive searches. 
• Familiarity with nonprofit finance, restricted funding, grant compliance, donor databases, memberships, and institutional partnerships. 
• Existing knowledge of Roanoke, Southwest Virginia, or relevant regional civic and philanthropic networks. 

Leadership Profile 

The successful candidate will be: 

• Decisive without being impulsive. 
• Strategic without neglecting execution. 
• Comfortable giving clear direction. 
• Able to resolve ambiguity without escalating every issue. 
• Skilled at maintaining external relationships. 
• Disciplined about priorities and organizational capacity. 
• Able to delegate rather than personally absorb all work. 
• Credible with staff, Board members, funders, donors, and civic partners. 
• Willing to name performance, capacity, governance, and structural problems directly. 
• Focused on leaving behind stronger systems rather than creating dependence on the interim leader. 

Time Commitment 

The position is expected to require approximately 40 hours per week, including regular on-site presence, staff supervision, Board and committee meetings, partner and funder engagement, and limited evening or weekend participation when institutionally necessary. 

The schedule should preserve sufficient executive availability for timely decisions and external relationship stewardship while remaining consistent with the part-time and temporary nature of the engagement. 

Compensation 

Compensation will be based on an annualized equivalent of $70,000–$85,000, adjusted to reflect the agreed weekly time commitment, contract structure, experience, and approved interim leadership budget. The engagement will be structured around defined executive outcomes, responsibilities, and deliverables rather than routine hourly operational work. 

Equal Opportunity Statement 

The Harrison Museum of African American Culture is committed to inclusive leadership and equal opportunity. The Museum encourages applications from candidates whose experience and perspective will strengthen its mission, community relationships, cultural stewardship, and institutional development. 

Application Requirements 

Candidates should submit: 

• A résumé or curriculum vitae. 
• A letter describing relevant executive transition, staff leadership, development, and partner-management experience. 
• A brief statement describing how the candidate would approach the first 90 days. 
• Three professional references. 
• Compensation expectations and anticipated weekly availability. 

Please e-mail application materials to info@harrisonmuseum.com.