NEC seeks an accomplished, dynamic, innovative and strategic leader with a passion for expanding access to music education at all levels; proven business development skills; and expertise in the management of people and teams, recruitment and revenue strategies, and technology to empower revenue generation. The successful candidate will demonstrate an understanding of NEC’s operating context, including academia, greater Boston, and online markets—and will bring keen analytical insight, cultural competencies, and compelling communication skills to develop, grow, and steward relationships that will advance NEC’s strategic, revenue-generating goals.

Essential Functions of the Role

• Create and execute a strategy to offer revenue-generative music education through pre-college, adult, summer, and digital learning channels by developing innovative, compelling programs and educational offerings.
• Lead the business development and operations of Expanded Education programs, instilling a mindset of growth and impact, and emphasizing program expansion, new ventures and partnerships, innovative methods of delivery, market differentiation, operational efficiency, and revenue growth.
• Oversee the creation and implementation of a comprehensive, data-driven marketing plan.
• Oversee the five-person Expanded Education leadership team.
• Develop and implement strategies to attract, support, and retain students, faculty, and staff.
• Collaborate with faculty and staff across the institution to identify new revenue generating courses, programs, and opportunities, including professional opportunities for college students and alumni.
• Collaborate with the Community Engagement and Professional Studies (CEPS) team at NEC.
• Partner with the Advancement team to ensure philanthropic investment.

Qualifications

• Ten or more years of administrative experience—with a strong background in business development and marketing and a background in music education preferred.
• Proven ability to grow revenue, successfully cultivate new business relationships, and meet revenue targets.
• Strength in working collaboratively and communicating effectively, both verbally and in writing.
• Dynamic interpersonal skills, including nuanced management skills, capacity to steward institutional relationships, and ability to solve problems creatively.
• Demonstrated success in organizing and balancing multiple and concurrent projects.
• Demonstrated cultural competencies and commitment to advancing NEC’s values of culturalequity and belonging.
• Financial competencies—facility with financial statements, ratio analysis, cash flow management, forecasting, and analytical tools to support decision-making.
• Exceptional judgment, discretion, and integrity when working with students, faculty, and staff in an educational environment.

This position provides a competitive salary commensurate with experience. NEC has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist with this important recruitment. All inquiries, applications, and nominations should be directed to the search firm as indicated at the end of this document.

About New England Conservatory

Mission Statement and Core Values

New England Conservatory educates and trains musicians of all ages from around the world, drawing on the talent and deep reservoir of experience of our distinguished faculty. We are dedicated to inculcating the highest standards of excellence and nurturing individual artistic sensibility and creative growth. Understanding that music is one of the transcendent expressions of human civilization, NEC aspires to ensure it has a central place in contemporary society.

We believe that the study of music builds human capacity, elevates the soul, and prepares our students for lives that enhance the public good.

We believe our students must have a supportive and collegial learning environment that maximizes the individual attention they receive from their teachers, and allows them to explore and develop their unique artistic personalities.

We believe in the critical importance of mutual support among faculty that encourages the highest standards of excellence and accommodates innovation, individual teaching philosophies, and a broad range of disciplines. We believe that we have a responsibility to reinforce and expand the position of music in society by educating the next generation of music leaders, incubating new work, and sharing our sublime art with the widest possible audience.

The College

Today, NEC enrolls over 730 students across a variety of majors, including brass, chamber music, collaborative piano, composition, conducting, contemporary improvisation, jazz studies, music history and musicology, music theory, percussion, piano, strings, voice and opera, and woodwinds. Degree offerings include the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts. NEC also offers the Undergraduate Diploma, Graduate Diploma, and the prestigious and highly selective Artist Diploma.

NEC’s faculty is best in class across a wide array of musical disciplines. The College is home to 237 faculty artists who are pre-eminent in their fields, 31 of whom are members of the renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra, and numerous others who are distinguished composers, soloists, performers, and scholars in their own right. NEC also boasts eleven current or former faculty and/or alumni who are MacArthur Fellows. Students are drawn to NEC, first and foremost, because of the caliber of NEC’s faculty members and for the opportunity to study with artists who are masters of their craft. The faculty’s commitment to excellence and to student achievement is the foundational through-line for NEC’s esteemed legacy.

In addition to its core musical training and studio work, NEC places significant emphasis on liberal arts, music history, and music theory, which it believes contribute importantly to the development of well- rounded musicians and arts leaders. As part of its core mission to produce well-rounded musicians, active life-long learners, and responsible citizens, the College has long supported and encouraged cross- departmental collaborations, as reflected in the recent Collaboration Challenge, which resulted in new interdisciplinary approaches to coursework this past fall. Unsurprisingly, chamber music and small ensembles are at the heart of NEC’s approach to musical artistry: most NEC students participate in chamber music/small ensembles nearly every semester, learning the art of collaboration and collective musical decision-making alongside incredible faculty coaches.

NEC has long been a pioneer in musical education beyond the classical canon, and maintains the highest standard of music-making, with deliberately permeable lines between genres, and supports a confluence of different types of musical study and performance. The formal jazz program was founded in 1969 under the leadership of President Gunther Schuller, making NEC the first major classical conservatory to offer a degree program in jazz studies. The Contemporary Improvisation program, founded by Schuller shortly

thereafter, supports musicians who seek to move beyond traditional genre boundaries with an emphasis on ear training, technique, conceptual ideas, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a wide range of improvisational traditions. As a meaningful complement to these interdisciplinary musical programs, NEC is also home to leading-edge work in Entrepreneurial Musicianship (EM). The EM program offers a range of courses, seminars, and visiting artist programs that help emerging artists articulate the impact they want to make as musicians and build the professional skills to do so.

The Preparatory School

The New England Conservatory Preparatory School (NEC Prep) offers open-enrollment educational opportunities for pre-college students across New England. It currently serves over 1400 students in the region, including those enrolled in NEC through a partnership with Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Prep student musicians attend individual lessons and classes, and participate in chamber music and 20 large ensembles, including orchestras, choirs, and wind ensembles. It is one of the largest programs of its kind in the nation.

In 1962, NEC Prep established one of the finest youth orchestras in the world: the highly selective Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPO), which tours internationally once every two years and has performed in some of the finest concert halls in the world. Prep is also home to the highly celebrated and selective Youth Chorale, Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble, and Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Summer Programs

Summer programs at NEC include a wide range of classes, festivals, lessons, and intensives for children, teens, college students, and adults. The flagship program is the Summer Orchestra Institute, a two-week ensemble program for intermediate and advanced-level string, wind, brass, harp, and percussion between the ages of 13-18. The experience emphasizes intensive musical preparation, while also working to develop in students communication and leadership skills through their musical collaborations, learning the joy of music making while developing lasting friendships. Students have the option of choosing to be a day student or residential student. Other programs exist in partnership with other organizations and include both in person and online instruction.

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES, AND NOMINATIONS

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters should be sent via the Isaacson, Miller website for the search: https://www.imsearch.com/open-searches/new-england-conservatory/vice-president-expanded-education. Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged.