Wolf Park Executive Director

Wolf Park; Battle Ground (IN); On-site; USD 63,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Wolf Park is seeking an Executive Director to guide financial sustainability, fundraising, and program growth at its Battle Ground, Indiana campus. The role emphasizes building a high-performing leadership team, expanding partnerships, and advancing a visitor-focused transformation while upholding exceptional animal care.

The successful candidate will drive strategic planning, donor engagement, and corporate partnerships, reporting to the Board of Directors and ensuring compliance and donor

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership with responsibility for people, budgets, operations, and results.
• Strong fundraising, donor cultivation, sponsorships, and revenue development experience.
• Solid financial judgment including budgeting, forecasting, prioritization, and resource allocation.

Responsibilities

• Lead the organization with a focus on financial sustainability, staff development, and external partnerships.
• Develop and execute a diversified revenue strategy including admissions, memberships, donations, grants, events, and sponsorships.
• Oversee transformation of Wolf Park to enhance visitor experience while maintaining animal welfare standards.
• Build a high-performing leadership team and ensure professional development, succession planning, and performance management.

Skills

Leadership

Fundraising

Budgeting

Donor cultivation

Strategic planning

Public speaking

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred

Job description

Executive Director Wolf Park
Reports to: Board of Directors
Status: Full-time, Exempt
Salary: Starting at $70,000 — final compensation will reflect qualifications, demonstrated results, relevant experience, and organizational fit.

About Wolf Park

Founded in 1972, Wolf Park is a nonprofit research, education, and conservation organization in Battle Ground, Indiana. For more than 50 years, Wolf Park has advanced understanding of and respect for wolves and other native species through behavioral research, public education, conservation, and exceptional animal care. The Park cares for wolves, bison, foxes, and a turtle on more than 40 acres and is recognized for science-based cooperative care and behavioral management that allow animals to voluntarily participate in husbandry and medical care.

The Opportunity

Wolf Park is seeking an Executive Director to lead its next era. This is not simply an administrative leadership role. The Executive Director will be responsible for strengthening the organization financially, developing its people, transforming the Park and visitor experience, expanding fundraising and corporate partnerships, building volunteerism, and ensuring that Wolf Park operates at consistently high professional standards while protecting the animal-care practices and research legacy that make the organization distinctive.

Primary Accountabilities

Leadership, Culture & Employee Development

• Build, coach, and retain a high-performing leadership team and staff organization with clear goals, accountability, feedback, and professional-development opportunities.
• Directly lead the Director of Animal Care, Director of Development & Engagement, Maintenance Coordinator, and part-time Behavioral Enrichment & Training Manager.
• Create a culture of collaboration, ownership, transparency, continuous improvement, safety, and respect.
• Establish meaningful performance-management, compensation, succession, and employee-development practices.
• Ensure departments work as one Wolf Park rather than as independent functions.
• Ensure consistent administration of organizational employment practices, personnel policies, employee records, benefits, compensation, and other core people processes.
• Lead the organizational onboarding of new employees, including organizational orientation, policies, culture, expectations, and required employment processes, before transitioning role-specific onboarding and development to the accountable supervisor.

Financial Sustainability, Fundraising & Revenue Development

• Own Wolf Park's financial performance and lead the organization toward long-term financial sustainability.
• Develop and execute a diversified revenue strategy encompassing admissions and programs, memberships, individual giving, major gifts, grants, events, corporate sponsorships, partnerships, and other appropriate earned-revenue opportunities.
• Personally cultivate meaningful relationships with donors, prospective major donors, corporate leaders, foundations, and community partners.
• Establish annual fundraising and sponsorship goals, pipelines, activity measures, and results reporting.
• Prepare and manage annual operating and capital budgets and provide the Board timely, accurate financial reporting, forecasts, risks, and corrective actions in coordination with the Wolf Park Board Treasurer.

Park Transformation & Visitor Experience

• Lead a multi-year transformation of Wolf Park into an upgraded, compelling, mission-driven destination while preserving its authenticity and animal-first culture.
• Develop priorities for facilities, habitats, grounds, signage, interpretation, amenities, technology, programs, events, and the overall guest journey.
• Use visitor feedback, attendance, revenue, membership, repeat visitation, and program performance to continuously improve the offering.
• Work closely with Development & Engagement, Animal Care, Behavioral Enrichment & Training, and Maintenance to ensure public experiences are educational, memorable, safe, operationally executable, and aligned with animal welfare.

Animal Welfare, Behavioral Excellence & Safe Operations

• Ensure Wolf Park maintains and advances high standards of animal welfare, behavioral management, enrichment, Cooperative Care, and husbandry.
• Ensure the Director of Animal Care and part-time Behavioral Enrichment & Training Manager have clear, complementary professional and technical authority, resources, standards, and accountability within the Executive Director's overall organizational leadership.
• Strengthen the training and qualification system, increase employee training capacity, document critical protocols, and develop qualified backup personnel so specialized knowledge and approval capacity are not concentrated in one individual.
• Support rigorous qualification and authorization processes governing animal training, Cooperative Care, and staff access to animal enclosures. Ensure designated technical qualification requirements are respected and cannot be bypassed solely by organizational title or supervisory authority.
• Ensure strong emergency preparedness, risk management, regulatory compliance, facility security, maintenance standards, and staff/visitor safety.

Development, Public Engagement, Volunteerism & Community Partnerships

• Build volunteerism into a strategic organizational capability with clear recruitment, onboarding, training, recognition, scheduling, supervision, and retention practices.
• Guide the Director of Development & Engagement in building the full public-facing and growth portfolio: fund development, marketing, sponsorships, memberships, community partnerships, Visitor Center, tours, educational programs, youth programs, events, interpretation, outreach, volunteerism, and guest experience.
• Expand Wolf Park's visibility and relationships throughout Greater Lafayette, Purdue University, Indiana, the conservation community, and relevant national/international networks.
• Develop mutually valuable corporate and community partnerships and ensure sponsorship commitments are professionally activated and stewarded.

Board Governance, Strategy & External Leadership

• Partner with the Board of Directors to establish strategy, priorities, measurable objectives, capital plans, policies, and long-range direction.
• Provide the Board with candid, timely information needed for effective governance and decision-making.
• Maintain a strong working partnership with the Board President, who serves as the Executive Director's primary Board liaison between regularly scheduled Board meetings.
• Work with the Board President and Executive Committee (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Past President), as appropriate, to address significant organizational opportunities, risks, and issues requiring Board-level attention between regular Board meetings.
• Support the Board and its committees by providing timely information, recommendations, and organizational resources necessary for effective governance, while maintaining a clear distinction between Board governance and management responsibilities.
• Work with the Board President to develop Board meeting agendas and ensure the Board is focused on strategic, financial, policy, and governance matters requiring its attention.
• Develop an annual operating plan with measurable organizational goals, obtain Board approval where appropriate, and regularly report progress against those goals to the Board.
• Serve as Wolf Park's principal organizational spokesperson and represent the Park credibly with donors, partners, media, government, professional organizations, and the public.
• Translate Wolf Park's mission and history into a clear vision for its future and mobilize staff, volunteers, donors, partners, and Board members around that vision.

Measures of Success

• Meaningful progress toward eliminating the structural operating deficit and building financial resilience.
• Measurable growth in contributed revenue, corporate sponsorships, memberships, partnerships, attendance in education program, visitors/tours and appropriate earned revenue.
• A clear, funded, phased plan for upgrading Wolf Park's physical environment and visitor experience.
• Improved employee development, retention, accountability, engagement, and leadership capability.
• A larger, better organized, and more impactful volunteer program.
• Increased training capacity and reduced employee qualification bottlenecks, with documented critical protocols and greater internal redundancy.
• Continued excellence in animal welfare, cooperative care, behavioral management, training, enrichment, and safety.
• Stronger community visibility and a broader base of people and organizations invested in Wolf Park's future.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership experience with responsibility for people, budgets, operations, and organizational results.
• Track record of developing employees and building accountable, collaborative teams.
• Demonstrated success in fundraising, revenue development, business development, sponsorships, donor cultivation, partnerships, or a closely related discipline.
• Strong financial and business judgment, including budgeting, forecasting, prioritization, and resource allocation.
• Experience leading meaningful organizational, facility, program, or customer/visitor-experience change.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, relationship-building, and public-facing communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively with a governing Board and distinguish clearly between governance and management responsibilities.
• Demonstrated commitment to animal welfare, conservation, education, and Wolf Park's science-based approach. Direct professional animal-care experience is preferred but is not required.
• Bachelor's degree preferred; equivalent combination of education and demonstrated leadership experience with responsibility for people, finances, operations, organizational development, change leadership, and achieving measurable results will be considered.

Leadership Profile

The strongest candidate will be a builder: someone who can respect a remarkable 50+ year legacy while being energized by what Wolf Park can become next. This leader will be comfortable moving between strategy and execution, donor conversations and staff development, budgets and visitor experience, Board discussions and day-to-day operational decisions. They will bring high standards without losing the collaborative, mission-driven character of the organization.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary starts at $70,000, with final compensation reflecting qualifications, demonstrated results, relevant experience, and organizational fit. Wolf Park offers health insurance and paid time off. Final compensation and benefits are subject to Board approval.