Executive Director - EGNW Education Center

Evergreen Goodwill; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Evergreen Goodwill Education Center in Seattle, WA seeks a Founding Executive Director to build and lead Washington’s first adult high school under the Goodwill Excel Center model. This pivotal role will drive strategy, program development, fundraising, and external leadership to establish five centers and serve 1,000–1,500 students over the next decade.

You will hire and supervise principals, shape operations, ensure accreditation and regulatory compliance, and engage funders and partners to

Qualifications

• 10+ years of senior leadership experience with strategy, people leadership, operations, and finances.
• Experience building, launching, scaling, or transforming a school or mission-driven initiative.
• Experience in adult, alternative, workforce-connected, or postsecondary education preferred.
• Knowledge to lead an accredited high school and oversee academics, accreditation, and regulatory compliance.
• Experience staffing boards and building relationships with funders, employers, and community partners including fundraising.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the Evergreen Goodwill Education Center organization, hiring principals and building a team across roles.
• Shape operational and growth strategy for the Excel Centers in Washington, adapting a national model to local communities.
• Set enrollment, persistence, graduation, and postsecondary success goals using data and accountability.
• Oversee budgeting, staffing, resources, accreditation, and regulatory compliance for financial/operational health.
• Serve as external leader to the board, funders, employers, and community partners, leading fundraising, advocacy, and policy engagement.
• Build a sustainable institution with visibility and partnerships to expand across five counties.

Skills

Executive leadership

Strategy development

People management

Fundraising

Board relations

Advocacy & policy engagement

Culture & team-building

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Educational leadership experience

Job description

Job Title: Executive Director, Evergreen Goodwill Education Center

Location: Evergreen Goodwill Job Training & Education Center - Seattle, WA

Salary Range: $180,000–$220,000

Evergreen Goodwill is seeking a Founding Executive Director to build and lead the Evergreen Goodwill Education Center (EGEC), a new organization formed to operate Washington State’s first adult high school using the Goodwill Education Initiatives model. Over the next decade, the Evergreen Goodwill Education Center plans to launch at least five Excel Centers—public high schools for adults ages 18 and older—in King, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, and Kitsap counties. Washington’s Excel Centers will build on the national Goodwill Excel Center model, which now includes 50 campuses across 11 states and Washington, D.C. The model combines rigorous academics, wraparound services, and life coaching to help adult students earn high school diplomas.

The Executive Director will shape the execution strategy, build the organization, launch its schools, beginning with Excel Center Goodwill Dearborn in Seattle, and lead them toward long-term success.

We are looking for an executive and builder who can define a bold strategy, translate it into action, and deliver on the promise of these schools. This leader will build and inspire a team, deliver strong student outcomes, engage funders and community partners, advocate for the schools, build an effective board and collaborate with its members, and create a financially and operationally sustainable institution.

About The Excel Center

The Excel Center model is a tuition-free public high school designed to help adults earn a state-recognized diploma, not a GED, along with college credits or industry certifications. Flexible schedules, life coaching, childcare, and transportation support help students balance school with work and family responsibilities. Excel Center graduates earn more than a diploma: they gain college credits and professional certifications that open doors to higher-paying careers in high-growth fields. A University of Notre Dame LEO study of the Excel Center model in Indiana found that, five years after graduation, graduates earn 38% more and are significantly more likely to work in fields with career pathways, such as healthcare.

Evergreen Goodwill will bring the model to Washington and build on it. We aspire to open an Excel Center in each of the five counties where we operate, ultimately reaching 1,000–1,500 students within the next decade. The founding Executive Director will benefit from a proven model and significant training, guidance, and ongoing support from Goodwill Education Initiatives (GEI), the national experts behind The Excel Center, while shaping the school to meet the needs of our local community. A combination of public funding, including charter school funding, and private philanthropy will support the school.

Learn more about the national Excel Center model: https://www.goodwillexcelcenter.org/

Five key functions of this role include:

1. Academic Excellence, Curriculum Oversight, and Student Outcomes
2. Culture, Talent, and Organizational Leadership
3. Student Recruitment, Enrollment and Retention
4. Partnerships, Board Engagement, Fundraising, and External Leadership
5. Financial Management, Compliance and Accountability

What You’ll Do

• Build and lead the Evergreen Goodwill Education Center organization. You’ll hire and supervise the Excel Center principals and help build a team that includes teachers, special education and language teachers, coaches, a registrar, and an office manager. You’ll build the school culture, academic program, operations, systems, and infrastructure and put strong academic leadership and expertise in place to support the educational program.
• Shape the operational and growth strategy for the Excel Centers in Washington, translating a proven national model into exceptional public high schools for adults ages 18 and older that are responsive to their local communities.
• Set ambitious goals for enrollment, persistence, graduation, and postsecondary success, using data and accountability to drive strong student outcomes.
• Ensure the financial and operational health of the organization and its schools by overseeing budgeting, staffing, resource allocation, accreditation, charter requirements, and regulatory compliance.
• Serve as the external leader for the Excel Centers, building strong relationships with the board, funders, employers, colleges, community organizations, public leaders, and other partners while leading fundraising, advocacy, and policy engagement for the schools.
• Build a sustainable institution with the visibility, partnerships, funding, and organizational strength to deepen its impact and support expansion across the five counties Evergreen Goodwill serves.

What You Bring

You are passionate about serving motivated adult learners who seek a second chance to earn a high school diploma while balancing work, family, and other responsibilities or challenges. You bring strong executive leadership skills, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and can lead an educational institution. You are entrepreneurial and enjoy shifting between strategy, operations, and "just get it done" tasks. You attract and retain talented, mission-aligned teachers and school employees.

You have:

• A minimum of 10 years of senior leadership experience, with responsibility for strategy, people leadership and development, operations, and finances and a record of proven results.
• Experience building, launching, scaling, or significantly transforming a school, educational organization, or similarly complex mission-driven initiative.
• Experience in adult, alternative, workforce-connected, or postsecondary education (preferred but not required).
• The knowledge and judgment to lead an accredited high school organization, with the ability to ensure strong oversight of academic quality, student outcomes, accreditation, and regulatory requirements through qualified academic leadership.
• Experience staffing boards and building productive relationships with funders, public leaders, employers, and community partners, including fundraising, advocacy, or policy engagement.
• Demonstrated success building and leading strong teams and organizational culture.
• Executive presence and communication skills to inspire, influence, advocate, and fundraise.
• A bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

Charter school and education leadership experience are valuable, but we do not limit the search to traditional school administrators. We want an executive who thinks like a builder, can lead both the school and the institution around it, and knows how to put strong academic leadership in place.