Executive Partner for Leadership Engagement

Summary

Leadership Roundtable seeks an Executive Partner for Leadership Engagement to build, strengthen, and extend our relationships with bishops, dioceses, Catholic leaders, partner organizations, and supporters.

This is a mission-critical senior leadership role — part ambassador, part partnership builder, part architect of the convenings that bring Catholic leaders together. The person we are looking for is a faithful, diplomatic, and deeply relational Catholic professional with significant experience working alongside Church leaders: someone who understands Church management and governance, who communicates with excellence, and who knows how to turn a relationship into real collaboration and lasting impact.

Organizational Overview

Leadership Roundtable partners with lay, ordained, and religious leaders to advance best practices in leadership, management, and governance — helping Catholic leaders across every sector of the Church build a culture of operational excellence and co-responsible standards-driven leadership.

We exist because we believe that well-run Catholic institutions thrive when leaders identify and uphold high standards, include laity and clergy together in decision-making, and build a holistic culture of operational excellence grounded in transparency and accountability. Institutions like these are the Church's best opportunity to grow and further engage the faithful to forward the mission of evangelization, service to human flourishing, and spiritual enrichment, and faithfulness to Christ's message.

We envision a Catholic Church renowned for excellence in leadership, governance, and effectiveness — one in which co-responsibility, transparency, and accountability strengthen trust and thereby enliven the Church's mission in the world.

Position Overview

The Executive Partner for Leadership Engagement leads Leadership Roundtable's relationships with the Catholic leaders and institutions we serve: bishops and diocesan leadership, national Catholic organizations, Catholic universities and school systems, religious communities, apostolates, foundations, and strategic partners.

This is a senior, externally facing role. The Executive Partner serves as a trusted ambassador for our mission, builds durable relationships across the Church, and translates those relationships into collaboration, visibility, program growth, and measurable impact. Just as importantly, the role is a bridge between lay business and professional leaders on one side and Church leadership on the other, bringing the best thinking from both worlds to bear on the practical work of running Catholic institutions well.

The Executive Partner also directs Leadership Roundtable's flagship convening, the Catholic Partnership Summit: setting its strategy and stakeholder architecture, and overseeing the staff and contractors responsible for delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Church leadership engagement
• Build and steward relationships with bishops, diocesan leaders, clergy, religious, lay ecclesial ministers, Catholic nonprofit executives, Catholic higher education leaders, and aligned national Catholic organizations.
• Develop and maintain a prioritized relationship map and engagement plan covering key priority dioceses and institutions.
• Serve as a primary point of contact and trusted representative of Leadership Roundtable with Church leadership connecting the Church leaders with the programmatic and support services of LR where needed.
• Ensure the Managing Partner and board are well prepared for external engagements, briefing materials, relationship histories, meeting notes, and clear follow-up.
• Maintain a disciplined system of record for outreach, commitments, next steps, and partnership opportunities.
• Strategic partnerships
• Identify, cultivate, and formalize partnerships with dioceses, Catholic organizations, school systems, apostolates, foundations, and ministries.
• Design partnership pathways, Summit participation, advisory roles, program pilots, resource sharing, sponsorship, and speaking opportunities.
• Work with program and development colleagues to align external relationships with organizational priorities.
• Surface new opportunities for collaboration, funding, visibility, and thought leadership.
• Own the design, strategy and outcomes of the Catholic Partnership Summit, coordinating with the leadership team at Leadership Roundtable so the focus of the summit is integrated across the support and partnership work.
• Set the Summit's stakeholder strategy: invitees, episcopal participation, speakers, advisory committee members, sponsors, and partner organizations.
• Direct programming and speaker recruitment, and oversee the staff and contractors responsible for timelines, vendors, budget, registration, hospitality, communications, and VIP protocol.
• Ensure each convening produces concrete outcomes, reports, commitments, partnerships, listening sessions, leadership circles, or follow-on initiatives, and lead the post-event stewardship that converts them into ongoing work.
• Communications and representation
• Represent Leadership Roundtable at Catholic conferences, diocesan events, partner meetings, and public forums.
• Draft and shape talking points, correspondence with bishops and diocesan leaders, partner updates, event invitations, briefing memos, and stewardship communications.
• Ensure external messaging is faithful to Leadership Roundtable's Catholic identity, mission, tone, and priorities.
• Partner with communications colleagues on newsletters, Catholic media opportunities, social media, reports, and Summit materials.
• Development partnership
• Work alongside development colleagues to identify sponsors, donors, foundations, and Catholic philanthropists connected to the mission-partnerships strategy.
• Support sponsorship packages, donor briefings, and event cultivation.
• Help steward major partners and sponsors before, during, and after key convenings.

Requirements

• Required
• Substantial senior leadership experience, roughly fifteen years of progressively responsible leadership, either within Catholic institutions or in mission-driven organizations, foundations, or professional services, paired with demonstrated fluency in the structure, culture, teachings, and governance of the Catholic Church.
• A practicing Catholic in good standing. This role represents Leadership Roundtable to bishops, clergy, religious, and lay leaders across the Church; credibility and personal witness within the Catholic community are essential to it.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust with senior leaders across very different worlds: clergy and lay, ecclesial and corporate and build trust and relationships across ideological divisions turning them into concrete collaborations.
• Strong judgment, discretion, and diplomacy, with a track record of handling sensitive matters and confidential information.
• Proven ability to direct complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives through others, including large convenings.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including editing and proofreading.
• Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time, including multi-day trips.
• Genuine commitment to Leadership Roundtable's mission and values.
• Preferred
• Master's degree in a related field: nonprofit management, business, pastoral ministry, theology, communications, or public policy.
• Prior work in a diocese, Catholic nonprofit, Catholic university, foundation, apostolate, bishops' conference, or national Catholic organization.
• Existing relationships across Catholic dioceses, ministries, or philanthropic networks.
• Experience planning conferences, retreats, bishop briefings, advisory councils, or high-level convenings.
• Fundraising, sponsorship, or donor-relations experience.