Operations and Strategic Initiatives Coordinator

Overview:
**Term: 2 Years**

The Operations and Strategic Initiatives Coordinator formally reports to the Director, Communications and Strategic Initiatives and will work with the Managing Director (MD) on a day-to-day basis. They are responsible for the MD’s daily schedule and itinerary, allowing the MD to focus on operational leadership. They also provide overall administrative and executive assistance in respect to the Communications and Strategic Initiatives (CSI) team including internal communication. The incumbent assists in logistics and running of special projects and strategic initiatives. The incumbent assists the Director, Communications and Strategic Initiatives on daily activities at the administrative level.

**Responsibilities**:
Manage MD’s priorities
- Quickly adapt to and learn priorities of the MD, including the MD’s active projects as well as day-today administration required by the MD
- Handle complex situations as they arise with speed, and discretion, including need for urgent meetings and changes to detailed arrangements involving numerous other parties; tactfully communicate to other parties when schedules and priorities change
- Collaborate with the CSI staff and visitors to plan VIP events (including obtaining visitor profiles and backup materials
- Critically think in an unexpected situation to assess what needs to be completed and prioritize tasks effectively
- Maintain contact with influential and senior members of the university, media, business, and prospect community, both internally and externally as a front-line representative of the MD

Tours and VIP Events
- Responsible for orchestrating internal meetings and tours with government, corporate and university officials and preparing materials required for effective participation. In doing so, the incumbent interacts extensively with IQC members including faculty, students, CSI team members, administrative staff and outside technical experts
- Assists the Senior Manager, Communications and Integrated Liaison in planning, executing and wrapping-up of all IQC VIP events and arrangements for special events including government tours, and industry business meetings. Duties include but are not limited to the following activities
- Assists with pre-event planning (create event plan, source and coordinate with vendors, exhibitors and stakeholders, registration preparation, meal planning, assisting invited speakers with logistics, documenting, tracking, etc.)
- Manages logistics (venue liaison, parking requirements, develops invitations, manages the rsvp process, and prepares name tags, etc.; prepares thank you letters; liaises with various faculties and departments to ensure appropriate timely, personal acknowledgement)
- Runs events (registration, managing caterers, collecting expense documentation, represent IQC during event)
- Responsible for post event activities (event teardown/clean up, assist with reports for sponsors, data collection, tracking and entry for IQC reporting)

Operations support for CSI Provides a wide range of support to the ensure the smooth operations of CSI team, including booking travel, facilities, catering, preparing presentations, handouts and reports; producing meeting notes and attending to special requests
- Supports the CSI team’s finance and budgeting process, including assisting with the team’s annual budget preparation, processing vendor invoices for payment and creating purchase orders through Unit4; processing travel and expense claims and other paperwork as required, handles the team’s monthly account reconciliation
- Supports CSI team’s operational requirements, including space management, vendor management, logistics and financial support
- Performs other duties of a comparable level/type as assigned

Administrative Support to the operations of the MD
- Plan, organize, and execute in-person and remote meetings on behalf of the MD
- Take meeting minutes and prepare formal meeting notes at the conclusion of meetings, as required
- Update webpages, Microsoft Teams sites, and SharePoint sites when required
- Act as the primary contact for scheduling of both room and parking requests on behalf of the MD

Travel arrangements
- Collect and maintain information related to the MD’s travel needs and preferences, copies of relevant travel documents and contacts for use on subsequent trip planning
- Handle complex change situations as they arise, including rerouting travel, changes in accommodations, or last-minute changes in event schedules
- Prepare and process the MD travel and expense claims and allowances in compliance with University Policy and granting agency requirements; remain current on knowledge of all policy requirements

Communications support
- Responsible for maintaining the IQC database and mailing lists and executing all IQC mailings
- Manages the CSI equipment needs and orders supplies and marketing materials

Qualifications:

- Completion of a Bachelor’s degree or e