Executive Director, Board Development & Engagement

Beth Israel Lahey Health; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Beth Israel Lahey Health seeks an Executive Director of Board Development to provide system-wide leadership for board development across first-tier hospitals and units in Boston. The role serves as the lead advisor for board initiatives, overseeing onboarding, recruitment, education, and ongoing leadership development for trustees and volunteers.

You will partner with governance and philanthropy leaders to align board strategies with organizational priorities, promote philanthropic engagement,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 10–15 years of progressively responsible experience in philanthropy, volunteer leadership, board development, nonprofit management, healthcare administration, or related field required.
• Minimum of 5 years of leadership and staff management experience required.
• Demonstrated experience building relationships with trustees, senior executives, donors, community leaders, and other high-level volunteers required.
• Healthcare, academic medicine, or large nonprofit system experience strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Board Development function across first-tier BILH hospital and clinical unit boards, establishing a system-wide approach to identifying, cultivating, recruiting, onboarding, and educating volunteer leaders.
• Develops and coordinates system-wide strategies for first-tier trustee recruitment, leadership succession, committee appointments, and volunteer engagement initiatives.
• Ensures alignment of board structure, composition, and leadership development efforts with system governance structure and local strategic priorities and community needs.
• Build and manages the candidate pipeline across first-tier hospitals and clinical units, partnering with Governance and Nominating Committees, philanthropy leadership, prospect development teams, and executive leadership to identify, evaluate, and recruit high-impact volunteer leaders.
• Leads efforts to cultivate and maintain robust trustee and volunteer leadership pipelines, including identification of future board chairs, committee leaders, and philanthropic ambassadors.
• Establishes and coordinates onboarding, orientation, education, and continuing development programs for first-tier board members and volunteer leaders.
• Develop and recommend strategies to increase community representation, and skill-based board participation.
• Provides strategic leadership for trustee engagement and stewardship activities, ensuring meaningful opportunities for board members to advance philanthropy, advocacy, community engagement, and organizational priorities.
• Develops and monitors reporting and metrics related to trustee engagement, including participation, philanthropic engagement, leadership involvement, and other indicators of an active and engaged board.
• Partners with philanthropy and executive leadership to identify opportunities that maximize board members' influence, networks, expertise, and philanthropic capacity.
• Works with board and philanthropy leaders to develop educational initiatives to enhance the engagement of board members in philanthropy.
• Creates an intentional and consistent trustee experience across the first-tier board member lifecycle, from onboarding and early engagement through ongoing service, leadership development, recognition, and transition from board service.
• Coordinates Board Development staff, creating a high-performing team culture grounded in collaboration, accountability, innovation, customer service, and continuous improvement.
• Develop work plans including project management, budget development, operational performance, and resource allocation.
• Identifies opportunities to leverage data, technology, and best practices to strengthen candidate pipeline development, trustee engagement, and overall board member experience.
• Serves as the organization's subject matter expert on board development, trustee engagement, and onboarding best practices for first-tier boards.
• Provides consultation, training, guidance, tools, and resources to philanthropy staff, hospital administrators, executive leaders, and board liaisons on board development matters.
• Leads special projects and strategic initiatives relating to board development, volunteer leadership, board engagement, and philanthropy integration.
• Represents Board Development and Philanthropy in system-wide committees, task forces, executive meetings, and external professional organizations as appropriate.

Skills

Board development leadership

Strategic thinking

Written communications

Oral communications

Governance knowledge

Teamwork

Customer service

Problem solving

Independence of action

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Nasdaq BoardVantage

Diligent

OnBoard

Board management systems

Microsoft Office Suite

Power BI

CRM platforms

Job description

Beth Israel Lahey Health seeks an Executive Director of Board Development to provide system-wide leadership for board development across first-tier hospitals and units in Boston. The role serves as the lead advisor for board initiatives, overseeing onboarding, recruitment, education, and ongoing leadership development for trustees and volunteers.

You will partner with governance and philanthropy leaders to align board strategies with organizational priorities, promote philanthropic engagement,