Business Unit Description

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of nearly 38 million that helps people turn their goals and dreams into 'Real Possibilities' by changing the way America defines aging. With staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and promote the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare security, financial security and personal fulfillment. AARP also advocates for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the world's largest circulation magazine, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin.

AARP Foundation is AARP's 501 c3 charitable affiliate. We are a public charity with revenue from federal agencies, corporations, foundations and individuals. AARP Foundation's vision is a country free of poverty where no older person feels vulnerable. Staff are located in Washington DC and throughout the US.

Every year, AARP Foundation helps millions of struggling older adults 50 and over win back opportunity by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face each day. Through the Foundation's many groundbreaking and innovative programs and services, we create and advance effective solutions to meet their basic needs for nutritious food, safe and affordable housing, adequate income and much-needed personal connections.
Summary

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Programs, the Vice President, Benefits Access will lead AARP Foundation's work to transform benefits access for low income older adults. In support of the Foundation's vision, mission and goals of addressing senior poverty through increasing income and decreasing expenditures, the Vice President will be the lead for a key objective for the Foundation for 2021 - 2026 of securing $700 million of benefits for low income 50+ with increasingly equitable outcomes for those who have faced systemic racism and discrimination. This work will be focused on public, private and portable benefit programs that increase income and those that decrease expenditures for cost of living expenses (such as food, housing, healthcare, etc.) Through research, the development and implementation of solutions, and by partnering with national, state and local stakeholders, the Vice President will lead a team designed to maximize the access to and use of public, private and portable benefits by low income older adults.

The VP, Benefits Access provides strategic direction, inspiration, and innovation to a team of high-performing staff and will work in concert with the leads for other program areas and across the Foundation to identify and integrate solutions to the biggest challenges facing the low income 50+ and their families in communities across this country. The Vice President will be a key part of the leadership team for AARP Foundation Programs.

The VP, Benefits Access builds and strengthens relationships with leaders to promote the adoption of evidence-based policy and practice changes and offers technical assistance to identify opportunities to test new scalable strategies. The VP also engages in the national dialogue about poverty, equity, health and human services integration, and public, private and portable benefits modernization.
Responsibilities

Critical responsibilities include:

• Supporting the achievement of large scale, systemic and sustainable social change through new innovations, a different approach, a more rigorous application of known technologies or strategies, and / or a combination of these

• Innovating by finding new products, new services, or new approaches to social problems - particularly focused on public, private and portable benefits

• Continuously refining and adapting approaches in response to feedback, research, and insights

• Strategic planning, project and process management

• Partner and stakeholder management as well as funder engagement

• Contributing to ensuring sufficiency of new initiatives in the Foundation's innovation pipeline each year to meet the Foundation's annual innovation goals

• Serving as a key advisor on scaling effective solutions

• Exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created

• Mission-driven commitment to building income security for low income older adults and the power of innovation to drive social impact

• Continual learning and understanding of the benefits field to drive strategic differentiation and partnerships

• The drive to work in cross functional teams and to engage different units across the Foundation and AARP enterprise to drive innovation to achieve AARP Foundation's mission

• Focus on building and inspiring a high performing team

This position is responsible for a portfolio of work from new ideas and concepts in the innovation pipeline to programs in multiple states and involving multiple partners, including for-profit and non-profit stakeholders. This position requires a commitment to the Foundation's strategy of continuously developing social innovations that increase our ability to provide practical and scalable solutions to the financial security needs of the low-income 50+.

The VP leads and manages a team of AARP employees which entails, but is not limited to:

• Conducting regular one-on-one meetings to assign, manage and review individual work

• Organizing team meetings to communicate critical departmental and organizational information

• Facilitating the annual performance management cycle including performance and development assessments and conversations

• Directing ongoing recognition and compensation, as well as annual merit and incentive planning decisions

• Enforcing compliance with all enterprise policies and guidelines, including timesheet review and approval

• Partnering in the recruiting process

• Managing enterprise assets and budgets

• Addressing employee relations and performance issues, with timely engagement of HR Business Partner
Requirements

• Graduate degree in business, science, technology, social services or social entrepreneurship.

• Minimum of fifteen years of progressive strategic leadership in a high-impact, best-in-class organization, ideally in a social-sector or cross-sector context

• Experience in scaling solutions through various pathways

• Excellent business judgment, a familiarity with a wide variety of business models both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and the ability to see the potential application of these models in the context of social innovation

• Strong competencies in budgeting, forecasting and business planning

• Demonstrated experience managing teams and ability to lead, coach, inspire and grow the team as resources allow

• Excellent communication skills both oral and written; ability to produce high quality reports and presentations in person and via virtual channels

• Well-networked in the human services, entrepreneurial, social-entrepreneurship fields with an ability to engage these resources to assist the Foundation in its mission

• Strong familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative research and analysis as well as quantifying return on investment

• A preference to take responsibility, manage multiple projects at once, and deliver professional work-product promptly and on-deadline

• Highly self-motivated
Benefits Offered

AARP offers competitive benefits with a 401K, 100% company funded pension plan, health, dental, vision and life insurance, STD/LTD, paid vacation and sick, and other benefits.

At AARP, the health and well-being of our candidates, employees, and members is a top priority. As a result of the COVID pandemic, all interviews will be held virtually and all non-essential employees will continue to work remotely until further notice. AARP has established social distancing policies to ensure the safety of our essential employees.
Equal Employment Opportunity

AARP is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. AARP does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.