Chief Executive Officer

The Hidden Opponent [THO] was founded in 2019 by Victoria Garrick Browne, Forbes 30 Under 30, PAC-12 Champion, and four-year starter on the University of Southern California Women’s Volleyball team. THO is named after Victoria’s 2017 TEDxTalk, which details her personal battle with depression and anxiety and the mental health crisis facing student-athletes around the world. THO was endorsed and supported by the late Kobe Bryant, who listed the non-profit as a standout resource for athletes. THO now has over 900 student-athlete ambassadors, “Campus Captains,” on over 750 different campuses around the world. 

The Hidden Opponent unites student-athletes through advocacy, education, and support services to address the – often hidden – mental health crisis. 

The Hidden Opponent seeks a visionary, strategic, and authentic leader with a demonstrated passion and commitment to mental health awareness and advocacy. The ideal candidate sees this as an opportunity to take the reigns of an established non-profit with limitless potential and create a lasting impact on the lives of student-athletes around the world. THO’s leader will be enthusiastically dedicated to scaling this organization to continue creating lasting change among institutions and sports culture to help student-athletes overcome the increasing mental health crisis 

THE HIDDEN OPPONENT’S VALUES 

At The Hidden Opponent, we aspire to cultivate a community of learning, mutual support, and accountability. We are more powerful as advocates and athletes when we connect, learn from, and collaborate with our peers.

We know that diversity, equity, and inclusion must be actively practiced, and this knowledge guides our work. We believe that the most successful organizations must reflect their communities; we support and hold them accountable to create conditions that allow diverse voices and nuanced storytelling to thrive.

We value creativity, innovation, and experimentation that move the issue of mental health and sports forward. We provide resources and make space for inventive approaches to mental health advocacy for all athletes. 

We strive to support and arm our staff with all the tools they need to be successful and that allow them to help fulfill our mission. 

THE CEO 

The CEO will provide leadership and oversight to THO’s programming and organizing work. We need a high-level, strategic thinker who will lead the staff and a doer who can show by example and roll up their sleeves to execute. 

The ideal candidate will be excited to identify funding, generate financial resources, and build strategically aligned relationships and partnerships. They will be an effective fundraiser with a demonstrated track record, knowledgeable of and expert at being in the leadership role in fundraising and resource development. Our ideal leader will be comfortable being THO’s spokesperson and understand how to build and steward relationships with institutional funders and individual donors. The new CEO must be able to conceptualize and communicate powerful ideas in writing and verbally to secure funding to support THO’s mission. Our CEO will be responsible for continuing to grow our organizational fundraising capacity and for diversifying THO’s revenue streams.

The successful candidate will bring many of the following  professional qualifications and personal qualities:

• Design thinker, strategist, visionary, and process leader with demonstrated experience developing and implementing innovative and complex initiatives
• Experienced coalition builder who will mobilize leaders within a large national context 
• Lead the organization across programmatic services, developmental cultivation, strategizing, executing, and managing  impactful partnerships, including with brands
• Identify and build out the organization’s board of directors for THE HIDDEN OPPONENT 
• Work in partnership with the board to achieve short- and long-term goals for THE HIDDEN OPPONENT and its programs 
• Execute strategic plans that establish goals and benchmarks for the whole organization that align with THE HIDDEN OPPONENT’s mission, as well as enable THE HIDDEN OPPONENT’s impact to grow 
• Lead fundraising efforts by assessing and implementing both short- and long-term development plans to generate increased funds year-over-year and promote continued financial sustainability 
• Cultivate, expand, and strengthen new and existing relationships, collaborations, and partnerships to maximize efficient and effectiveuse of community resources, enhance reputation and visibility and strengthen THE HIDDEN OPPONENT’s position as a premier leader in student-athlete mental health 
• Design and fulfill an organizational structure that enables THE HIDDEN OPPONENT and the staff/volunteers to maintain and scale excellence across the non-profit 
• Supervise, delegate, and hold accountable staff and volunteers to a high standard of professionalism, implementation of short-term goals, and a culture of belonging and inclusion 
• Perform all tasks in alignment with non-profit CEO duties 

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Demonstrated senior-level experience 
• Outstanding managerial skills to comprehensively supervise professional and support staff 
• Established experience creating and sustaining effective relationships with teams (board, staff, volunteers, donors, philanthropic foundations, community leaders, political leaders, business leaders, educational institutions, and other stakeholders.) 
• Proven proficiency in non-profit budgeting, financial management, and data analysis. 
• Interest in, passion for, and an understanding of the social-emotional well-being of student-athletes in community-based mental health programs and student-athlete mental health challenges 
• The ability to identify, initiate, nurture, and maintain close relationships with major individual and institutional donors and donor prospects 
• Success managing a virtual and/or hybrid team of staff and volunteers in multiple time zones 
• Outstanding interpersonal and oral communication skills, including public speaking and articulating ideas clearly and succinctly both verbally and in writing 
• Competency and familiarity with social media platforms and virtual workspaces and communities 
• A strong work ethic, honesty, integrity, sincerity, a high energy level, and a strong commitment to teamwork 
• Self-confident, with strong diplomatic skills, and a record of accomplishment of maintaining high professional standards and good judgment

JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION COMPETENCIES 

• Demonstrative commitment to building and deepening justice and equity in the world and within across race, sex, gender identities, sexuality, disabilities, etc. 
• Experience building diversity and inclusion within organizations 
• Understanding of how the applicant’s own identities impact supervisory relationships, team dynamics, and organizational culture 
• Knowledge of personal/implicit/unconscious bias and the four I’s of oppression (ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized) 
• Ability to facilitate honest conversation through a lens of acceptance, welcoming feedback, and holding a posture of learning 
• A keen awareness and an ability to negotiate through power structures, privilege differentials, and institutional systems that foster systemic inequities
• Competency to set outcomes, goals, and performance measurements related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion for staff, volunteers, board, and the young people THE HIDDEN OPPONENT serves 

LOCATION 

This position is remote. The candidate can live anywhere in the continental United States. The candidate must be willing and able to travel to work-related functions and special events.

SALARY AND BENEFITS 

The expected salary range for this role is $185-200k annually.  This range reflects considerations for experience, location, and other market factors.

Individual compensation packages are based on various factors, including skill set, experience, and location. 

The Hidden Opponent benefits package includes medical, dental and vision insurance, paid holidays and unlimited PTO. 

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES, AND NOMINATIONS 

We recognize that we are seeking a wide range of skills and experience for this position, and not all candidates will be an exact match for the criteria as laid out in the job description. We do not expect every candidate to be equally skilled in these areas, and this is not a complete list of what you may be asked to do or what you may bring to the job. Please feel free to let us know about other relevant skills and qualifications that may be of interest to us. Reaching diverse talent is incredibly important to THO, and if you do not have the exact combination of skills, we’d still love to hear from you.

If you have questions, please contact talent@url-media.com, and we will try to answer swiftly. Chief of Recruitment & Business Development Leonor Ayala Polley is leading this search with Senior Recruiter Sonali Kohli.

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and resumes with cover letters should be sent. Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged. 

The Hidden Opponent will not discriminate based on race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing staff, selecting volunteers and vendors, and providing services.  

The Hidden Opponent practices and champions inclusiveness. We honor the diverse strengths, needs,  voices, and backgrounds of all members of our community. Candidates from traditionally marginalized communities are especially encouraged to apply.