Specialist, Board Governance

Canadian Bar Association; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 79,000 - 97,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

STD/LTD

EAP

PD Funding

Yearly Wellness Credit

Pension

Job summary

The Canadian Bar Association in Ottawa is seeking a Specialist, Board Governance to provide confidential governance support to the CEO, President and National Board, manage correspondence, board materials, meetings, and governance records. Fluent bilingual skills, English and French, are mandatory for this position.

The role includes budget coordination, governance documentation, and coordinating events; the salary is CAD 88,000 per year with benefits such as STD/LTD, EAP, PD Funding, Wellness

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Min. 5 years' experience in governance, executive support or senior administrative role.
• Experience working with a national Board of Directors in the not-for-profit sector is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Acts as a conduit between the CEO and the Board on governance matters.
• Provides administrative support to the CEO, including daily review of correspondence and requests; coordinates bi-weekly Executive Meeting with agenda building.
• Provides comprehensive support to the Board and committees, including minutes and materials distribution.
• Attends meetings and handles in-person or virtual logistics, agenda prep, minute-taking, and follow-ups.
• Maintains governance records and develops annual meeting schedules.
• Coordinates travel and meeting arrangements for the Executive Team and Board.

Skills

Organizational skills

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving

Financial skills

Discretion

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Tools

MS Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Acrobat

Zoom

MS Teams

SharePoint

Job description

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Specialist, Board Governance provides confidential governance support and administration to the President and National Board of Directors. This role is responsible for handling confidential matters, liaising with internal and external groups, preparing reports and correspondence, ensuring coordination with the CBA's senior team and staff, organizing meetings, and supporting the CEO, President, and the National Board of Directors. The Specialist also acts as steward of the CBA's governance record, curating and organizing governance and background materials so that they are accurate, current, and readily accessible to the Board and Executive Team.

The Specialist, Board Governance requires a high level of professionalism, integrity, and discretion. The Specialist must be able to prioritize and multi-task, be flexible and collegial, and produce high-quality and accurate work, sometimes on short notice.

This individual is self-motivated with the ability to perform specialized governance and administrative duties with minimal supervision. Working closely with the CEO, the Specialist proactively assesses the needs of the Executive Team and Board and exercises independent judgment on governance matters, while carrying no supervisory or direct-report responsibilities.

Languages

The CBA delivers services in both of Canada’s official languages. Fluent bilingual skills, both written and oral, are mandatory for this position.

$88,000 per year

• STD/LTD
• EAP
• PD Funding
• Yearly Wellness Credit
• Pension

Responsibilities

• Acts as a conduit between the office of the CEO and the Board of Directors, engaging actively on all matters relating to board governance affairs.
• Provides administrative support to the CEO, including daily review of and response to correspondence and requests; coordinates a bi-weekly Executive Meeting (President, Vice-President, CEO, Chief Advocacy Officer) including agenda building and the annotated agenda for the CEO.
• Provides comprehensive support to the Board of Directors and the Governance & Equity Committee, including creating and updating agendas, minutes, and distributing materials for all meetings of the Board, Leadership Forum, Executive Team, and individual meetings of the CBA President and Vice-President.
• Attends meetings and assumes responsibility for in-person or virtual meeting logistics, agenda preparation, minute-taking, and follow-up on action/bring-forward items.
• Maintains Board Terms of Reference, Board Policies and Procedures, and Board Orientation information; creates yearly governance meeting schedules for the Executive Team, Board of Directors, and Governance and Equity Committee.
• Develops and maintains a curated governance collection; including terms of reference, policies, minutes, resolutions, decisions, and background materials; applying consistent file naming, version control, classification, and retention conventions so that materials are complete, current, and discoverable.
• Responds to research and information requests from the Board and Executive Team, including retrieval of historical governance records and preparation of background reading packages, indexes, and finding aids on governance topics.
• Works with IT and internal knowledge and library resources to advance governance information management incrementally, recommending practical improvements to SharePoint structure, taxonomy, metadata, and search within existing tools and as systems evolve.
• Coordinates annual budget preparation (total of 9 budgets) and Board expense processes, including tracking and follow-up of payment.
• Coordinates the election processes for the Vice-President, Board members, and Committee/Subcommittee members, in coordination with Communications and Advocacy, providing all administrative support for these processes.
• Composes and/or proofreads confidential correspondence, agendas, meeting packages, letters, emails, and memoranda; develops presentations from draft notes; ensures all documents align with the CBA's brand and positioning.
• Coordinates travel and meeting arrangements (hotel, flights, meeting space, meals) for the Executive Team, Board of Directors, Board Committees, and Leadership Forum; coordinates the President's Dinner, dinner with the Supreme Court, Leadership Forum meetings, and other major events as assigned.
• Administers several inboxes (President, CBA Awards, CBA Elections, CBA Board of Directors) and SharePoint portals (Board of Directors, Branch Presidents, Governance & Equity, Awards and AGM).
• Support the Awards portfolio (President's, Jack Innes, Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Douglas Miller Rising Star, and Louis St-Laurent), and may be assigned primary responsibility for the awards process as required.
• Coordinates the CBA's annual corporate filings through external legal counsel.
• Confirms Executive Team, Board Members, Branch Presidents, Branch VPs, Branch Board Members, and Committee information, keeping iMIS database lists current.
• Coordinates with third-party providers retained for minute-taking and simultaneous interpretation services; coordinates AODA compliance for all Board Committees/Subcommittees.
• Distributes a bi-weekly update of the President's itinerary to internal staff (Comms & Advocacy); coordinates and organizes requests for communications support for members of the Executive Team.
• Provides assistance to the Advocacy Dept with AGM logistics; coordinates Canadian Bar Foundation meetings (arrangements, agendas, minute-taking); assists with committee logistics for the Finance Committee, Audit & Risk Committee, and Investment Steering Subcommittee.
• Monitors Judicial Appointments weekly and drafts congratulation letters as required.
• Other administrative duties as required, including but not limited to printing of business cards and name badges, and coordination of external memberships such as CSAE, ACLEA, IILACE, and IBA.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as business administration, public administration, library or information science, or a related field or an equivalent combination of education and experience

E Experience

• Min. 5 years' experience in a related governance, executive support, or senior administrative role required.
• Experience working with a national Board of Directors in the public or not-for-profit sectors is considered an asset.

Skills and Abilities

• Advanced organizational skills;
• Advanced interpersonal skills with the ability to be tactful, diplomatic, and discreet;
• Advanced problem-solving skills and ability to multitask;
• Advanced financial skills (ability to work with Excel, spreadsheets, and budgets);
• Ability to work under strict deadlines;
• Ability to work independently, comfortable with changing priorities; works effectively and efficiently under pressure;
• Advanced interpersonal and communication (written and oral) skills;Advanced computer skills (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Acrobat, Zoom, MS Teams, SharePoint);
• Working knowledge of library and information science practices including classification and taxonomy, metadata, version control, records retention, and information retrieval, and the ability to apply them to a governance collection;
• Ability to establish order incrementally in a developing technology environment, building practical document and records management conventions with the tools available;
• Availability to work overtime and travel, when required.

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest. However, we will only contact those under consideration. All applicants are encouraged to join the CBA Talent Community which establishes a list that may be considered for similar positions of various tenures.

The CBA is committed to the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion in its learning, work environments, and in its operations. We encourage applications from traditionally marginalized groups. We believe in and promote the rights of all persons with disabilities as outlined in the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA 2005) and its related Accessibility Standards Regulations. To meet this obligation, the CBA will make appropriate accommodations available upon request. Please inform the CBA, in advance, of the need for accommodation(s) during the recruitment and selection process to ensure your equal participation. Requests can be made by email to HR (@) cba.org.