Position Summary:
The Director of Relationship Management is a senior professional within Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) responsible for the strategic stewardship of the Chancellor's external relationships. The role focuses on the Chancellor's full network — donors, prospects, foundation leaders, peer institution leaders, government officials, corporate partners, alumni, and the broader circle of figures the Chancellor engages — and ensures these relationships are managed with intentionality, coordination, and discretion. The Director also serves as the Chancellor's on-the-ground coordinator at high-visibility events, managing his engagement priorities and time in the room.
As Vanderbilt expands its national footprint and the Chancellor's profile continues to grow, the Director of Relationship Management is a new role designed to strengthen the deliberate, coordinated stewardship of the Chancellor's relationships in service of both DAR's mission and the institution's broader strategic priorities.
About the Work Unit:
Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) advances Vanderbilt University's mission by engaging alumni, donors, and partners to build meaningful relationships and secure philanthropic support. DAR supports the university's strategic goals through fundraising, stewardship, and alumni engagement. The division operates in a dynamic, data-driven environment that demands strong collaboration, operational excellence, and continuous innovation to achieve evolving institutional objectives. You can visit our website for more information: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/dar/
Key Functions and Expected Performance:
Maintains a comprehensive, strategic view of the Chancellor's external relationship portfolio, including donors, prospects, foundation leaders, peer institution leaders, government officials, corporate partners, alumni, and other significant external figures.
Identifies priorities, surfaces relationships that are going cold, and recommends where the Chancellor's attention will have the most impact.
Partners closely with the Office of the Chancellor to ensure the Chancellor's relationships are stewarded with intentionality across internal and external dimensions, with the Director of Relationship Management leading external strategy and the Executive Director leading internal coordination.
Coordinates across DAR, Government Relations, Communications, the Office of the Provost, and other units to prevent duplicated, conflicting, or poorly timed outreach to individuals in the Chancellor's network.
Serves as a central reference point for understanding what the institution is asking of, or communicating to, key external stakeholders.
Contributes substantive relationship intelligence to the Chancellor's daily briefings, ensuring the Chancellor enters every interaction with the relevant history, context, and strategic framing of the relationships involved.
Participates in the standing meetings with the Office of the Chancellor staff on upcoming external interactions, the relationship implications of his engagements, and the strategic priorities of his network.
Coordinates with the responsible Vice Chancellor offices, unit leaders, and prospect managers to identify priority attendees across constituent groups and to develop a targeted engagement plan for the Chancellor at high-visibility events.
Reviews event briefings to ensure that high-interest attendees are accurately captured and that the Chancellor's engagement priorities are well represented.
Serves as the Chancellor's on-the-ground coordinator at events, actively managing time, flow, and engagement priorities.
Provides pre-event briefings to focus the Chancellor's activities, and delivers real-time context (names, affiliations, relationship history, key points) to support effective interactions in the moment.
Facilitates high-value introductions and ensures the Chancellor connects with priority individuals in a purposeful sequence. Maintains situational awareness to prevent time monopolization and to ensure balanced engagement across attendees.
Manages transitions between conversations, speaking roles, and scheduled obligations to keep the Chancellor on track during events. Discreetly troubleshoots issues or changes in real time, including attendance shifts, schedule changes, and sensitivities.
Identifies and capitalizes on unplanned opportunities for meaningful engagement with key stakeholders during events.
Conducts immediate and post-event debriefs with the Chancellor to capture insights, impressions, and actionable follow-up. Synthesizes and disseminates key takeaways to relevant university stakeholders.
Partners with appropriate staff (including prospect managers, unit leaders, Government Relations, and Corporate and Foundation Relations) to communicate and execute follow-up actions arising from the Chancellor's external engagements.
Ensures that the Chancellor's external interactions are tracked in the university's CRM (Salesforce) with appropriate detail and discretion, and contributes to the broader institutional effort to make the CRM a more reliable foundation for relationship work.
Works with the Office of the Chancellor on the development and integration of systems and workflows that support the Chancellor's relationship portfolio over time.
Proactively identifies upcoming engagements where the Chancellor's involvement would add strategic value, and surfaces these to the Executive Director and the Chief of Staff for consideration.
Provides feedback to DAR leadership and to the Chancellor's Office on trends, opportunities, and risks emerging from the Chancellor's external interactions.
Travels with the Chancellor as needed, including to Vanderbilt's remote campuses, high-stakes external engagements, and donor and stakeholder events.
Works with a designated backup within DAR to ensure continuity of the role when the Director is unavailable, and supports the training and development of the backup to enable effective coverage.
Handles highly sensitive and confidential information regarding donors, prospects, board members, peer institution leaders, government officials, and other external figures with the discretion appropriate to the role.
Performs additional duties as assigned.
Supervisory Relationships:
This position does not have supervisory responsibility.
This position reports administratively and functionally to the Associate Vice Chancellor, Finance and Business Services & Chief of Staff within Development and Alumni Relations, while operating in partnership with Office of Chancellor and other campus areas.
Work Environment:
This position will be located in the Nashville, TN area.
It will be a hybrid role with the expectation of being in the office approximately 2 days per week or more depending on business reasons.
Routine overnight travel will be required, including nights and weekends.
Education and Certifications:
A Bachelor's degree in a related field, or the equivalent, is required.
An advanced degree in business, public administration, higher education, or a related field is strongly preferred.
Experience and Skills:
5 years, or the equivalent, of progressively responsible experience in development, alumni relations, donor relations, prospect management, or comparable relationship-focused roles within a complex organization, is necessary
At least 7 years of experience in higher education, philanthropy, or other relationship-intensive sectors is strongly preferred.
Demonstrated success managing a portfolio of senior relationships, including the ability to think strategically about a network of external stakeholders and to identify priorities, gaps, and opportunities, is necessary.
Exceptional judgment, situational awareness, and discretion, including the ability to handle highly sensitive and confidential information regarding donors, prospects, board members, and other external figures, is necessary.
Demonstrated success operating in a matrixed environment, coordinating across multiple units and stakeholders without direct authority, is necessary.
Strong network of relationships within higher education, philanthropy, or comparable sectors, with the institutional credibility to coordinate effectively with senior stakeholders both within Vanderbilt and externally, is strongly preferred.
Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain trusting relationships across a wide range of stakeholders, including senior administrators, faculty, trustees, donors, government officials, peer institution leaders, and external partners, is necessary.
Superior verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively in formal and informal settings, is necessary.
Demonstrated ability to perform effectively in fast-paced, high-visibility settings, including the ability to provide real-time coordination and judgment during events, is necessary.
Proficiency with CRM platforms (Salesforce specifically) and other tools used to manage and analyze relationship portfolios is necessary.
Willingness and ability to travel with the Chancellor, including domestic travel and occasional international travel, and to attend events outside of standard business hours as needed, is necessary.
Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage shifting priorities, and adapt to a rapidly changing environment is necessary.
At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of “America’s Best Large Employers” as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.
We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.
