Executive Vice President

About the Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), located in Princeton, N.J., is a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime. To get there, we must work to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Since 1972, we have focused on developing and promoting innovations in health and healthcare to improve the lives of millions. Through funding, convening, advocacy, and evidence-building, we work side-by-side with communities, practitioners, and institutions to achieve health equity faster—ultimately, paving the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

We take seriously our responsibilities, and we pledge to work in ways that reflect our Guiding Principles. These are rooted in equity and influence everything we do at RWJF. Equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and collaboration enable our staff’s wide range of experiences, passions, and perspectives to strengthen our ability to address our nation’s most pressing health issues and support a culture of belonging. Part of this work includes actively shaping an inclusive, antiracist organization where all staff members thrive as we build and use our capabilities, voice, and power to advance health equity. RWJF offers a collaborative, collegial, and creative work environment. With a career at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, you will make a difference.

RWJF Guiding Principles:

• We seek bold and lasting change rooted in the best available evidence, analysis, and science, openly debated.
• We treat everyone with fairness and respect.
• We act as good stewards of private resources, using them to advance the public’s interest with a focus on helping the most vulnerable.
• We cultivate diversity, inclusion, and collaboration.
• We speak out as leaders to promote health and wellbeing.

Generational Goals

At RWJF, we’re committed to acting now so that change will be realized and sustained over the course of generations—so that our children, and their children, will live in a world where:

• All families have the resources they need to raise children who will thrive.
• Public health and healthcare systems prioritize individual and community wellbeing—and remain accountable to them; and
• Communities foster the conditions that allow all residents to reach their best possible health and wellbeing.

Purpose of Position

The executive vice president (EVP), as an officer, will be involved in strategic planning, program development, and policy advocacy. The EVP will work closely with other senior staff, trustees, and external partners to design and implement programs that drive systemic change. This role requires a deep understanding of public health issues, strong leadership skills, and the ability to collaborate across different sectors.

Officers at RWJF are also expected to uphold the Foundation's values of equity, diversity, and inclusion. This involves fostering an inclusive work environment, addressing conflicts, and ensuring that all team members feel valued and respected.

In addition, this person will be a member of the Foundation’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and will lead the Program unit leadership team. This position will ensure the Program unit’s Strategic Framework and strategies are aligned with and are a key driver of the Foundation’s broader transformation to deepen a focus on intersectional racial equity, purpose, and brand. The EVP provides institutional vision and inspirational leadership to the Foundation’s key programming initiatives and functions of the Program unit, which include the Communications, Grants Management, Policy, Research-Evaluation-Learning, New Jersey, and Strategic Portfolios departments, and the Impact Investments team.

The EVP’s key responsibilities include: (1) establishing strategic objectives and managing human and financial resources to meet them; (2) managing the integration of the Foundation’s Program unit’s work to ensure it is aligned for optimal coordination and output within the Program unit and with other Foundation units and departments (i.e., Operations, Law, Investments, Equity and Culture); (3) externally, maintaining leadership and partnerships in the field and actively seeking out ways to leverage the current programs and investments of the Foundation, as well as identifying future directions to serve the Foundation’s mission.

Key Responsibilities
Strategy and Leadership

• Accountable for delivering results in functional areas while aligning with the Foundation’s mission.
• Drive strategic initiatives and foster a high-performance culture focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Participate in cross-functional decision-making and steward resources responsibly.
• Contribute to the Foundation’s overall success, long-term goals, and impact.
• In pursuit of the RWJF Executive Goals, join fellow ELT members in holding enterprise-wide accountability for responsibilities, such as performance management, communications, culture-building, and risk management.
• Cultivate and sustain internal collaboration and partnerships with members of the ELT to align enterprise-wide strategies and initiatives for maximal impact.
• Serve as primary advisor and counsel to the President/CEO and the Board of Trustees on core programmatic issues.
• With input from the President/CEO, the Board, and Program leadership, establish and oversee Program unit strategy, budgeting, staffing, and learning and evaluation priorities.
• Oversee the implementation, evaluation, and refinement of the Foundation’s Strategic Framework, Equitable Philanthropic Principles and Practices, and Program departments and portfolios’ strategies in collaboration with the Program unit vice presidents (VPs) and associate vice presidents (AVPs) to maximize alignment, coordination, and impact.
• Represent RWJF externally to uphold and leverage the Foundation’s reputation and brand and advance a collective agenda for health equity with partner philanthropies and other organizations. Serve as the Foundation’s face and voice primarily on program strategies, but as needed for all Foundation strategies and work.

Program Strategy

• Accountable for providing vision, energy, and leadership for the RWJF’s programmatic agenda and culture as we strive to take bold leaps to transform health and pave the way to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
• Build external relationships with collaborators and strategic partners to inform and advance the Foundation’s work.
• Develop a vision and plan for the Program unit’s evolving strategies, building a trust-based partnership with grantees to effectively meet the Foundation’s goals.

Management

• Guide, inspire, evaluate, mentor, and develop Program unit VPs, AVPs, directors, and Program staff.
• Oversee the management of multiple large-scale budgets across the Program unit, ensuring alignment with the organizational financial goals.
• Approve grants of up to $3 million in accordance with Foundation program policies.
• Work with the VPs, AVPs, directors, and Program officers to establish and implement shared systems of accountability.
• Guide Program unit VPs and AVPs as they oversee the administrative, strategic, and programmatic aspects of the department and change initiatives across the Program unit.
• Work with Program VPs and AVPs as they manage planning and annual work plan development to ensure alignment with the RWJF Strategic Framework and department and portfolio strategies.
• Work with Program VPs, AVPs, and the VP of Program Management as they manage the resources required to meet their department’s strategic objectives and support alignment with the RWJF Strategic Framework.
• Foster a diverse, multicultural Program unit that is committed to and accountable for advancing intersectional racial and health equity.
• With the VP of Program Management, coordinate recruiting and succession planning for the Program unit leadership with HR.
• Balance meaningful delegation of decision-making to the various department members with the strategy and needs of the organization as a whole.

Organizational Development

In partnership with the chief Human Resources officer (CHRO) and vice president, Equity and Culture (VPEC), the executive vice president (EVP) will be responsible for assessing, designing, and driving the Program unit’s workforce development, ensuring alignment with the Executive Strategic Goals. Key responsibilities include:

• Organizational Structure: Evaluate and refine the Program unit structure, working norms, building new skills and abilities, to ensure it supports a trust-based partnership with grantees. This includes leading efforts to redesign roles, recruit or develop staff with new competencies and ways of working, establish new processes, and enhance team effectiveness.
• Change Management: Lead and manage in collaboration with the chief operating officer (COO), chief Human Resources officer (CHRO), chief financial officer (CFO), and vice president of Equity and Culture (VPEC), change management strategies that support ongoing efforts to reimagine the Foundation.
• Culture Building: Champion a positive organizational culture that emphasizes collaboration, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• This leader must demonstrate strong emotional intelligence by fostering a culture of empathy, inclusion, and collaboration. They must effectively navigate complex interpersonal dynamics, maintain self-awareness, and manage their own and others' emotions in high-stakes situations. This role requires the ability to inspire trust, build strong relationships, and communicate with clarity, transparency, and sensitivity while leading with emotional resilience and supporting the wellbeing of the entire organization.
• Promote and support implementation of Foundation’s equitable philanthropic practices and principles and transparency framework throughout the Program unit.
• Create an open, collaborative, and highly equitable environment for strategy development and decision-making, with an opportunity for diverse opinions and staff from diverse backgrounds and roles to be heard and included.
• Create a climate of ongoing personal and professional development, responsibility, and shared accountability so that members of the department are supported to grow, achieve excellence, and take ownership of decisions and results.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record leading complex, mission-driven, and equity-oriented organizations or large internal units. Strong emotional intelligence, leadership, communication, and analytical skills are essential for this role.

Professional Experience/ Qualifications

The successful candidate will be both a visionary and a strategic thinker with experience managing a dedicated and engaged, diverse team of talented leaders. They will have exceptional acumen and credibility related to health, health equity, and the social determinants of health, especially in addressing structural racism as a root cause of health inequities.

The EVP must embody the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion in their approach to their work and management, and their ethics must be above reproach. To that end, they must be committed to creating an open, collaborative, and highly equitable environment for strategy development and decisionmaking, with an opportunity for different opinions and staff from diverse backgrounds and roles to be heard and included. Additional skills and qualifications include:

• Deep knowledge of and expertise in concepts related to health and racial equity, structural racism, the social and economic determinants of health, and superior systems change knowledge and skills.
• Proven ability to provide vision and think strategically; to make sense of complex issues and be a creative problem solver; to synthesize material and focus on the essence of an issue and specific opportunities while advancing the big picture.
• Demonstrated ability to work in partnership with a highly engaged president/CEO, Board, and a results-oriented senior staff.
• Proven track record of using traditional and nontraditional data and evidence to identify and support effective strategies.
• Experience with approaches that leverage data/evidence, narrative, building and bridging power, leadership, policy change, and impact investments in communities to improve health.
• Experience in building relationships and partnerships across sectors (e.g., community development, government agencies, healthcare, public health, and community organizations) to address the social determinants of health and to improve health and health equity.
• Excellent writing and speaking skills. Ability to communicate clearly, persuasively, transparently, and strategically. Possesses persuasive presentation skills—for communications with internal leadership, external high-level partners, media, and people from communities with whom we are working.
• Strong people-management and interpersonal skills that support a collaborative, inclusive, transparent, productive, and thoughtful working environment and relationships with a diverse, multicultural group of colleagues, grantees, consultants, external funders, and others.
• Visionary leader who can utilize directive and consensus leadership toward action impact and decisionmaking. A leader and tactician who understands the operational implications of plans and strategies, who is able to creatively design and implement systems and procedures that fit current and long-term needs.
• A transparent, humble, and empowering culture builder who can effectively lead diverse collaborators and facilitate resolution of conflict and disagreement.
• Familiarity with philanthropy, including the role of philanthropy in effecting social change including social justice.
• Ability to travel—including for site visits, grantee convenings, and representing the Foundation at outside meetings.

Educational Background

Graduate degree or higher in a relevant or related health field, including but not limited to medicine, nursing, public health, health policy, epidemiology, and health communications.

Physical Requirements/Working Conditions

The incumbent performs job duties in a normal business office environment. Tasks are generally carried out with no specific or unusual physical or environmental demands. While performing the duties of this job, the incumbent is regularly required to work at a desk with a computer for extended periods of time. Specific physical abilities required by this job include operating basic office equipment such as personal computers, duplicating machines, fax machines, and standard office telephones. The incumbent is to attend meetings, both on-site and off-site, via phone or videoconference. RWJF is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Position Location:
This position is assigned to our Princeton, N.J. headquarters offices.

Hybrid: Flexible Purpose (HFP):

• HFP Explained: As of January 1, 2023, the Foundation has implemented a model we call Hybrid: Flexible Purpose (HFP). RWJF’s innovative operating model is the infrastructure (e.g., policies, practices, protocols, procedures, systems) that form the basis for how the day-to-day operations are managed, culture is built and nurtured, and mission is delivered. This model is designed to give employees as much flexibility as possible while meeting the needs of the organization.
  
• Office Attendance Requirements: All RWJF employees will be required to come into Foundation offices during the year for purposes related to their position such as critical tasks (e.g., building operations, grantee meetings), organizational events (e.g., training and development), and internally focused team activities. The number of required meetings in Princeton is subject to change as we continue to evaluate and improve the model.
• Office Availability: All RWJF offices remain open for all Foundation employees for focused work, optional organizational activities, and connecting with colleagues informally as needed for work purposes.
  
• Travel to Office Responsibility: While employees have flexibility where they live, employees are responsible for covering any expenses incurred from commuting to their assigned office for any and all required meetings.

Learn more about our operating model and in-office requirements. 

Compensation

The non-negotiable starting salary for this position is $470,000.00. Why work at RWJF? Learn more about the benefits of working at RWJF.

How to Apply
Applicants should submit a resume and required letter of interest to Korn Ferry.

Application Deadline

The position will remain open until filled.