Director, Event Strategy

Catholic Charities USA; Alexandria (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) seeks a Director of Event Strategy to guide content decisions, speaker relations, and production excellence for all CCUSA events, including the annual gathering, forums, panels, and webinars, in collaboration with Programs, Government Relations, Member Services, Communications and Marketing, and other CCUSA teams.

The newly created role will showcase the director’s creative talents, technical prowess, and project management skills, ensuring CCUSA event content

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of event planning and management experience.
• Solid knowledge of the Catholic Church and how event content must align with Church teachings.
• Experience coordinating content for conferences, meetings, webinars, and hybrid events.

Responsibilities

• Develop and guide content strategies for conferences, meetings, webinars, virtual events, and other CCUSA experiences.
• Design attendee learning experiences with varied formats (keynotes, workshops, panels, roundtables).
• Build event agendas and formats to maximize attendee engagement.
• Monitor trends in event content strategy and engagement technologies.
• Recruit keynote speakers, moderators, and subject matter experts; manage communications and materials.
• Coordinate recording studio scheduling and operations for digital/hybrid events.
• Support show production for in-person and digital events, including the Annual Gathering.
• Collaborate with Communications and Marketing on event messaging and promotion.
• Coordinate with platforms and production teams for a strong online event presence.
• Develop a measurement plan to evaluate content effectiveness and attendee satisfaction.

Skills

Content strategy

Speaker relations

Event planning

Project management

Content production

Marketing communications

Catholic Church knowledge

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Creative thinking

Education

BS/BA in business management, hospitality, event planning, or related field

Graduate-level theology/divinity (preferred)

Job description

Summary Description:

The Director of Event Strategy at Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) will guide content decisions, speaker relations, content production excellence, and marketing communications for events of all formats at CCUSA — including our annual gathering, forums, panel discussions, digital events, and webinars — in concert with Programs, Government Relations, Member Services, Communications and Marketing, and other CCUSA team members who host or are involved in the successful execution of events.

The newly created role will showcase the director’s creative talents, technical prowess, project management skills, and knowledge of the Catholic Church to ensure the content of CCUSA events achieves high marks from attendees and speakers alike.

Responsibilities:

The role will perform the following responsibilities in coordination with CCUSA staff who serve as event hosts and content experts, along with Convening colleagues:

• Develop and guide content strategies for conferences, meetings, webinars, virtual events, and other event-based experiences at CCUSA, both for Catholic Charities and non-Catholic Charities audiences.
• Design attendee learning experiences that incorporate a variety of formats, including keynote presentations, workshops, panels, roundtables, and interactive sessions, as well as design learning objectives and content frameworks aligned with an event’s goals and audience needs.
• Help build event agendas, session formats, and content that maximize attendee engagement.
• Monitor and evaluate emerging trends in event content strategy and audience engagement technologies, including cloud-based tools that facilitate real-time participant feedback and perspective sharing.
• Research, recruit, and secure keynote speakers, moderators, panelists, and subject matter experts, keeping an ongoing list of potential outside talent to fill event roles.
• Manage speaker communications, agreements, briefing materials, preparation, and presentation development.
• In support of digital and hybrid events, assist in coordinating the scheduling, booking, frequency, and operational use of the CCUSA recording studio, including marketing and distribution.
• Support the effective use of event technology across live, virtual, and hybrid events, including overseeing show production for premiere in-person and digital events, including the Annual Gathering.
• Partner with Communications and Marketing to develop event messaging and promotional content.
• Coordinate with digital event and training platforms and production teams to create a quality online event presence.
• Develop a comprehensive measurement plan to evaluate content effectiveness and attendee satisfaction in conjunction with Convening and Research & Evaluation teams.
• In coordination with Communications and Marketing, elevate the design, format and messaging within presentation materials and decks.
• In conjunction with the Vice President, Leadership Development & Catholic Identity and the Executive Vice President, Member Services, ensure that educational content, event programming, and event resources accurately reflect Catholic Social Teaching and Church tradition.

Primary Skills:

• Embraces CCUSA’s values and the behaviors that support these values.
• Builds trusted relationships with CCUSA executives, team members, internal event hosts, and outside speakers.
• Possesses a solid knowledge of the Catholic Church and how event content must align with the teachings of the Church.
• Has strong oral and written communications skills.
• Can take complex sets of inputs and create clear, understandable outputs.
• Able to manage multiple event content planning engagements simultaneously, establishing guiding timelines, milestones, and deliverables.
• Exercises excellent problem-solving skills and sound judgement.
• Demonstrates the ability to work collaboratively with others.
• Is curious and uses that curiosity to make an event exceptional in content.
• Measures content effectiveness against defined success metrics.

Education and Experience:

• BS/BA (or equivalent experience) in business management, hospitality, event planning, communications or related field; graduate-level education in Catholic theology, pastoral ministry, or divinity is preferred
• Minimum of 5 years of event planning and management experience

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to stand and walk for long periods of time during events.
• Must be able to lift up to 25 pounds at times.
• Must be able to work a variety of hours in order to accommodate events.

CCUSA provides Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or gender, military service or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, age, disability or marital status in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. CCUSA complies with applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.

Catholic Charities USA recruits only for positions that are included on this careers page. Candidates who advance in the recruitment process should anticipate communications directly from both the departmental hiring manager and the Senior Human Resources Director. Any email communications will be sent from a verified CCUSA email domain (@CatholicCharitiesUSA.org).

Catholic Charities USA will never ask candidates to share personally sensitive information (Social Security number, bank accounts, etc.) during the interview process and CCUSA will never request any payment from candidates in connection with a job application.