Regional Director (Midwest)

POSITION TITLE: Senior Regional Director, Midwest

REPORTS TO: Vice President, Central Division

SUPERVISION EXERCISED: Supervise all programs, staff, and interns across multiple regional offices

LOCATION: Chicago, IL

Grade/Class: Grade K, Exempt, Non-Union 

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: 

ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. 

PRIMARY FUNCTION: 

The Senior Regional Director (SRD), Midwest provides strategic, programmatic, and operational oversight of ADL’s Midwest region, including multiple regional offices across the states served. As a senior leader, this role is responsible for driving a unified regional strategy to advance ADL’s mission, deepen community partnerships, expand regional impact, grow revenue, and guide high-performing teams. The SRD also leads public engagement, government affairs, incident response, donor stewardship, and manages, motivates, and develops regional board efforts across the region.

This role is a member of the Central Division Leadership Team and works closely with national and divisional colleagues to ensure alignment, innovation, and excellence across the region.

• Community Leadership: Be the face of ADL in the region. Promote visibility and leadership of ADL in the community by establishing and maintaining relationships with appropriate community institutions and leaders, elected and appointed officials, media representatives, law enforcement personnel, ethnic and interfaith group leaders and the Jewish community. Lead community outreach efforts, including initiatives and joint ventures with elected leaders, interfaith and cross-cultural organizations active within the region. Represent ADL at major public events and maintain a consistent and positive presence in the community.
• Public Affairs & Media Relations: Represent ADL and give speeches in a variety of forums to promote public awareness of ADL’s mission. Respond to inquiries from the press and from members of the public, demonstrating knowledge of ADL’s policies and positions and relevant local, national and world events. Read, monitor and respond to media reports and opinion articles. Collaborate with ADL communications develop and disseminate compelling content including press releases, social media statements, and opinion pieces to be approved by appropriate supervisory and/or National staff. Serve as a credible and articulate public voice on ADL’s positions and mission.
• Government Affairs: Lead government affairs activity in the broader Midwest region, building and maintaining regular contact with state, local and national officials to advance ADL’s agenda. Advocate for key policy issues, mobilize community support, and participate in coalitions that influence legislative and regulatory priorities. Provide thought leadership on relevant legislative developments and collaborate with ADL’s national policy experts to ensure regional alignment.
• Volunteer Leadership: Recruit, engage, and guide a dynamic and diverse regional board and volunteer leadership. Establish guidelines for including volunteer leaders in regional activities and advisory boards across the broader Midwest region. Identify community leaders for involvement and recruitment to ADL. Staff a variety of advisory and leadership committees to advance priorities. Identify, cultivate, and mentor next-generation leaders and board members. Empower volunteer leaders to contribute meaningfully to fundraising, advocacy, and programmatic efforts.
• Vision & Strategic Direction: Provide visionary leadership for the broader Midwest region. Develop and execute a multi-year strategic plan that aligns with ADL’s national objectives and leverages the unique assets and needs of the regions. Collaborate with Central Division colleagues and National teams to share best practices and implement innovative solutions. Serve as a senior voice on divisional strategy and help shape ADL’s overall direction.
• Programming: Direct the implementation of ADL programs and policies tailored to local community needs and issues. Ensure that initiatives are responsive to community needs while maintaining consistency with ADL’s national mission. Evaluate program effectiveness and ensure strategic use of resources.
• Fundraising: Serve as an active member of the regional fundraising team. Lead a culture of philanthropy in the region for both staff and board members, ensuring that both board and staff members understand their fundraising responsibilities, encourage meaningful giving from regional board members and partner with the Senior Director of Philanthropic Engagement (SDPE) and assigned development team members to implement a fundraising strategy to achieve the annual regional target. As the regional subject matter expert, the Senior Regional Director is responsible for leveraging professional connections, effectively communicating ADL’s mission and impact through compelling stories and data, initiating and nurturing strategic partnerships for substantial funding opportunities and in partnership with development colleagues soliciting financial gifts to support all ADL fundraising campaigns. 
• Incident Response: Oversee incident management and constituent services. Lead team responding to discrimination, bias and hate complaints and ensure community awareness to reporting, appropriate consultation and escalation are conducted with subject matter experts at ADL and partner organizations and respond in appropriate and timely ways. 
• Management: Oversee regional operations staff and staff across the broader Midwest region. Recruit and hire regional staff; supervise staff; and establish performance standards and monitor results. Promote a collaborative and high-performance team culture. Ensure staff accountability and alignment with ADL’s values and strategic priorities.
• Administration: Manage the operating budget and ensure fiscal responsibility. Partner with national operations, HR, and finance teams to oversee administrative functions, including office space management. Implement operational best practices and ensure efficient, compliant, and mission-aligned operations.

Attributes 

• Commitment to and passion for ADL’s mission and work. 
• Enjoys working in a highly collaborative team environment where continuous learning and adaptive, solutions-oriented problem-solving are at the forefront. 
• Possess the desire and ability to coach teams to excellence. 
• Bias for action and urgency coupled with the judgement to know when a crisis calls for calm and restraint.
• Visionary leader excited by the opportunity to grow ADL’s impact in the community. 

Skills:   

• Outstanding leadership and team-building skills; effective at guiding high-performance teams.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning, coalition-building, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
• Proven record of results in translating vision and strategies to action 
• Excellent public speaking and media communication skills.
• Ability to lead in complex, dynamic, and sensitive environments.
• Strong interpersonal, conflict resolution, and diplomacy skills.
• Fundraising acumen, particularly with major donors or business development.
• Ability to multi-task and respond to changing priorities is essential 

Work Experience:   

• The ideal candidate has significant years’ professional experience and can demonstrate a progressive increase in responsibility and leadership in nonprofit, advocacy, or public affairs and has a proven record managing staff and volunteers, leading regional offices or multi-site programs.
• Demonstrable experience in fundraising, program development, policy advocacy, and organizational management is required.

Education:   

• A bachelor’s degree plus professional training, or equivalent experience. 

Work Environment:  

• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends when necessary to represent ADL and to attend community events. Travel within the regions is required. Occasional overnight travel is required. 
• ADL is a hybrid environment; this role requires 3 days a week in the office.  

Compensation:  

• This position has a salary range of $230,000 to $240,000. This salary range is reflective of a position based in Chicago, IL. Please note that actual salaries are commensurate with experience and reflect the budget for a given position, and since ADL has a location-based compensation structure, there may be a different range for candidates in other locations. For an overview of our total rewards package, please visit https://www.adl.org/about/careers.   

ADL aims to create a working environment where every employee can thrive professionally. Our mission-driven work is best accomplished in an environment that supports belonging. ADL values a diverse workplace and strongly encourages people of all races, religions, nationalities, genders, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and veterans to apply. ADL is an equal opportunity employer. Recruitment, hiring, promotions and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment shall be maintained in a manner which does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, marital status, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or military status, or in violation of any applicable Federal, state or local laws.      

ADL will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation to support the interview process, please contact People & Culture at talentacquisition@adl.org. 

ADL will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and all other applicable State, Local, and Federal laws.  

The information in this job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of employees in this classification. It is not designed to contain, or be interpreted as, a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and objectives required of employees assigned to this job, nor is it to be interpreted as a contract for employment.