GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WORK:
The Senior Vice President of Strategy and Performance leads VIA's enterprise strategy, organizational performance management, and cross-functional special projects on behalf of the President & CEO. This role is responsible for the development and oversight of the Office of Strategy and Performance, the enterprise integrator that connects strategy, execution, performance, and customer outcomes across the agency. This position will translate the Board of Trustees directives and President & CEO priorities into measurable enterprise objectives, building the disciplined systems that track VIA's progress on delivering these established objectives, and leading special projects that require coordination across multiple departments and stakeholders.
The Senior Vice President of Strategy and Performance is vital to establishing the core functions of the Office of Strategy and Performance, to include strategic planning, performance metrics, and initiative governance, and overseeing their successful and rigorous execution. This position owns the enterprise strategy-to-performance discipline, providing cross-functional leadership and accountability and ensuring VIA leadership has the visibility, rigor, decision support, and governance required to drive measurable results, without diminishing departments' operational authority and oversight.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Leads VIA's enterprise strategic planning framework and coordinates the annual strategic priority-setting process.
Translates the Board of Trustees and President & CEO's directives into actionable enterprise objectives and initiative roadmaps.
Ensures alignment between budget, capital planning, workforce planning, and strategic priorities.
Owns and maintains the President & CEO/Executive Scorecard and enterprise strategic initiatives tracker.
Builds and operates VIA's enterprise KPI framework and performance scorecards.
Establishes performance reporting standards and coordinates monthly/quarterly performance reviews with the Senior Executive Team.
Identifies performance improvement opportunities and emerging operational risks early and supports corrective action planning with the responsible Division.
Promotes a performance culture centered on outcomes - customer, community, financial, workforce, and organizational excellence - rather than activity.
Leads enterprise-level special projects and initiatives on behalf of the President & CEO, including Board-directed assignments.
Coordinates cross-functional initiatives that require executive sponsorship and multi-department collaboration, such as CRM implementation, revenue analysis, and corridor development initiatives.
Provides strategic oversight and accountability for enterprise economic development initiatives, integrating this work with enterprise strategy and performance discipline as the function is established.
Establishes governance structures, timelines, accountability, and reporting protocols for major initiatives.
Serves as the escalation point when initiatives hit enterprise-level barriers, dependencies, or resourcing conflicts.
Identifies opportunities to improve organizational coordination, efficiency, and execution discipline.
Supports change management and organizational readiness for major transformation efforts.
Helps institutionalize transformation work to ensure it endures beyond any single initiative or leader.
Prepares executive-level briefings, strategic assessments, and recommendations for the President & CEO and the Board of Trustees.
Supports development of pertinent Boad materials related to enterprise strategy, performance, and major initiatives.
Conducts benchmarking, forecasting, and scenario analysis to inform executive decisions.
Ensures enterprise strategy and priorities are grounded in customer, ridership, and community data.
Synthesizes ridership, customer experience, and travel-pattern data from across departments into a unified strategic insight that informs agency decisions.
Builds, develops, and leads a lean, high-performing strategy and performance team.
Models enterprise-first thinking and fosters cross-departmental collaboration.
Serves as a credible, trusted strategic partner to executive and departmental leadership alike.
This job description excludes marginal functions that are incidental to performing the job. Other duties may exist.
REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Planning, Finance, Data Analytics, Organizational Performance, or a related field, and ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in strategy, performance management, enterprise program governance, public-sector management, or a related field, including at least seven (7) years in a senior leadership role with direct accountability to executive or governing board-level audiences.
Experience leading cross-functional strategic initiatives in complex organizational environments.
Experience building or managing performance management systems, including scorecards, KPI frameworks, dashboards, and executive reporting processes.
Experience developing executive-level decision materials, strategic recommendations, and trade-off analyses for C-Suite, Board, or equivalent senior decision-making audiences.
Equivalent combinations of education and experience may be acceptable.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Strong executive presence, enterprise thinking, and political and organizational awareness; high emotional intelligence, analytical rigor, and a strong bias towards execution and results.
Equally comfortable facilitating high-level strategic discussions, analyzing performance data, and driving accountability across a complex organization.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
Knowledge of strategic planning methodologies, enterprise performance management, and change management principles.
Knowledge of public sector governance, financial and operational planning, and data analytics/performance reporting.
Knowledge of economic development principles, infrastructure investment strategies, and economic development financing mechanisms.
Strong strategic planning, analytical, and problem-solving capabilities.
Strong verbal, written, presentation, and public speaking skills.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with elected officials, developers, public agencies, business leaders, civic organizations, and internal stakeholders.
Ability to communicate complex mobility, infrastructure, and economic development concepts to diverse audiences.
Ability to think strategically while driving operational execution.
Ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives and influence without direct authority.
Ability to translate vision into measurable outcomes and communicate effectively with the Board of Trustees, executives, employees, and community leaders.
Ability to manage multiple enterprise priorities simultaneously and navigate politically sensitive, organizationally complex environments.
Ability to negotiate complex agreements and manage high-level stakeholder relationships.
Ability to lead enterprise-wide strategic initiatives and influence cross-functional teams.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and initiatives in a dynamic and collaborative environment.
Must be able to maintain good work attendance.
Safety Accountability Statement:
- Employees must consider safety in all tasks performed, as well as demonstrate safe judgment and decisions that not only maintain their own safety; but that of fellow employees and customers.
- Demonstrate a professional commitment to assure compliance with all organizational policies, practices, and programs related to safety, health, and system security.
- Employees have a responsibility to identify and report hazards, as well as potentially unsafe conditions, to your immediate supervisor or Safety Department.
- Employees are responsible, and required, to stop a job/task to prevent an unsafe incident or act from occurring. This acknowledges the threat of potential injury, property damage and the opportunity for better judgment to be used.
Must comply with and support all applicable VIA EEO Policies and Procedures.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Physical ability required to be mobile, bend, stoop, stand, reach, and occasionally lift 5-25 pounds of objects, such as files, equipment and supplies, and books.
WORK ENVIRONMENTS:
Work is primarily performed in a professional office environment with occasional travel to meetings, project sites, and community events.
May require attendance at evening or weekend meetings and public engagement activities as needed.
