shorefast
executive director
shorefast network for place-based economies
Unleashing the power of place for local communities to thrive in the global economy. At Shorefast, they see community as the unit of change to create economic resilience, both locally and on a global scale.
Position Overview
Organization: Shorefast
Title: Executive Director, Shorefast Network for place-based Economies
Reports to: Zita Cobb, Founder and CEO of Shorefast
Location: Hybrid office environment. Toronto or Ottawa preferred. This role requires frequent national travel, and some international travel. A valid passport and driver’s license will be required. This role also requires some evening and weekend work.
What?
Shorefast is one of North America’s most creative and notable social enterprises and the charity behind the world-renowned Fogo Island Inn and Fogo Island Arts. They are committed to making it possible for local communities to thrive in the global economy and they are forging a new community economic development path at the intersection of business, art, hospitality and philanthropy.
Their work has garnered significant attention, including a feature on 60 Minutes and named in The New York Times’ 52 Places for a Changed World.
In this newly created role, our successful candidate will lead a major new initiative that creates national momentum to grow flourishing community-based economies across Canada as a key cornerstone of the nation’s economy.
The position requires a strategic and entrepreneurial mindset along with strong executive leadership to drive and inspire high levels of collaborative engagement amongst communities, governments, academia, the business sector, philanthropists and non-profits. Digital platforms are an integral component of the Institute for the sharing of evidence-based best practices and know-how and to facilitate the networking and development of collaborative models to support the community economic development work of all sectors.
This is a “greenfield” opportunity for an entrepreneurial Executive Director to create and scale successful administrative, programming and partner support, including staff and financing, for the Shorefast Network. The outcome of the Shorefast Network will be to add more nationally distributed economic momentum and growth of community-based community economies as a recognized and valued cornerstone of Canada’s overall economy.
Community Economic Pilot
With the support of government and philanthropic partners, Shorefast undertook the Community Economies Pilot to bring together five Canadian communities to explore shared learnings. The outcomes of this national initiative are helping inform Shorefast’s creation of a network dedicated to strengthening community economies, big and small. In short, it’s about creating an economy in service of people, places, and nature.
Confirmed by the pilot project and needing constant testing and retesting, the work of the Shorefast Network is to equip communities with the possibility for them to create for themselves a resilient, profitable and entrepreneurial local economy. Flourishing communities that build their economies on local assets are the enduring foundation of a vibrant and strong national economy.
Why?
The importance of this community level work is even more urgent given the pressures of climate change, global economic and social instability as well as the increasing concentration of wealth in fewer hands and places that exclude too many local places and community economies. Yet, solutions to these and other national and global problems can be found in unleashing the currently under-utilized economic and cultural assets found in local communities.
Broad in its reach and grounded in local practice, Shorefast Network will be a resource for practitioners and policy makers to catalyze and support tangible results for the economies of local communities. The leadership of the Institute matters to the future of local communities and the future of local communities matters to Canada’ economy and societal well-being.
The Executive Director will build on learnings from a recent year-long, Shorefast-led pilot project conducted with the active participation and support of several local communities (urban and rural), governments, academia and the business and non-profit sectors. The pilot confirmed the need for a national initiative to further develop and implement a conceptual framework to guide future programming, including new mechanisms and architectures for collaboration amongst governments, the private sector and communities; alternate models to finance community-based economic growth; collection and use of community-level data; and growing the entrepreneurial capacity in communities.
The national Network builds on more than a decade of experience and practice by Shorefast on Fogo Island, Newfoundland that is recognized internationally for innovation and success in community economic development. Anchored by the award-winning Fogo Island Inn along with several other locally based, Shorefast owned, social businesses that export products and services to Canadian and international markets. The proven impact for Fogo Island is significant economic benefit, including 300 local jobs and associated local economic diversification that produces an estimated $30 million annual GDP by a community of about 2500 people.
More models are needed: more tools yet to be developed: more systems need to adapt for access by local communities; much more collaboration is needed across and amongst all sectors of the economy and society. That is the work of the new Institute to expand the learnings from Shorefast on Fogo Island and from communities elsewhere into a significant Canada-wide initiative to stimulate the creation and growth of local-community based economies.
The work of the Network also benefits from Shorefast’ s other initiatives on Fogo Island which include cultural, environmental, heritage and arts programming as critical to creating an integrated and “whole” approach to community economic development.
How?
The change Shorefast is after is big. They can’t do this work alone and they haven’t had to. It takes all, team members, community members, businesses, cultural and educational organizations, community associations, government agencies, and private philanthropists. The fabric of society is knit by active connection, contribution and collaboration. Shorefast are enormously grateful to be able to continue working alongside so many critical partners who are helping reimagine and shape a bright future.
Fogo Island has never been a story about just one place – it has a story that lends itself to many places. It offers a contagious example of place as a convening point for people and systems and how we can nurture entrepreneurial communities. Many have heard Zita Cobb (Shorefast Founder and CEO) say ‘a small island is a good proxy for a small planet’. Answers to our collective challenges can be found in the smaller scale and applied to larger ecosystems. When Shorefast was founded, they knew they would need to put change into practice from the ground-up, by understanding the specificity of the local context. Working within community – the most powerful unit of change – Shorefast made a determined choice to see the assets and opportunities in front of them, in the place they lived.
Shorefast’s approach is deeply informed by the history of Fogo Island. Fogo Islanders have been holding onto this place – standing upright in the wind – for centuries. It hasn’t always been easy, but their shared dedication and commitment to place has kept them moving forward. As an organization, Shorefast continues to build on Fogo Island’s legacy of asking the question “how can we live better together?” and in finding ever-evolving answers to how we can flourish as a part of the bigger whole.
Shorefast’s experience on Fogo Island, as both community members and economic development practitioners, has demonstrated that, when we build equitable and regenerative community economies, we’re building the foundation for a global economic order that serves the full ecosystem of life on our planet.
Who?
The Executive Director, Shorefast Network for Communities Economies will report to Founder & CEO, Zita Cobb. Zita is a notable Canadian and is a force for good. More on Zita, here. They will work alongside Shorefast’s executive leadership team and board members.
Our successful candidate will be an entrepreneurial professional, with a 10+ year track record of success in executive level leadership of complex organization’s. Ideally, they have worked in several sectors (business, government, non-profit) and acquired a strong understanding of how each sectors works and collaborates. They can drive an agenda for positive social change.
Our candidate will be comfortable working within a start-up environment and will enjoy building processes and systems to support a start-up organization and team.
They will bring a combination of policy, strategy, and operational experience along with a passion for innovation and a strong motivation and commitment to contribute to bettering Canada’s economy by activating the natural and cultural assets located in communities across Canada.
Proven ability to think and work at a strategic and conceptual level, translate these higher-level factors into executable operations plans and have the entrepreneurial and management skills necessary to guide a diverse team of colleagues and partners to build the Institute into a major player in its field in Canada and internationally.
A proven track record of developing and growing relationships with the private, public and community sectors and experience in developing and implementing strategies and plans for financial stability and on-going Institute effectiveness based on community impacts and outcomes.
An outstanding media-savvy communicator and ambassador for Shorefast’s work in public and private fora and ability to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels of society, from grassroots communities, corporate boardrooms, policy think tanks, charitable organizations, elected representatives and government officials Exceptional oral and writing skills in English are essential. Fluency in other languages, especially French, is a highly valued and desirable asset.
This position requires domestic and international travel.
As a Shorefast senior executive be a strong team player with colleagues and a strategic, creative and collaborative partner for the whole of Shorefast’s work.
Be a constant scanner and student of developments relating to the state of the Canadian and world economies and broad societal trends to anticipate opportunities and identify challenges that will impact the future success of communities and the Institute. The ability to translate futures insights and developing trends into strategies and plans is critical for the ongoing success of the Institute’s work. Experience in program design, program implementation and evaluation of program effectiveness is required to adjust resources and operations on an anticipatory and timely basis.
The Executive Director will likely have grown up in a small community and will possess personal qualities and characteristics that include:
Empathy and high emotional intelligence (EQ)
Flexibility and high tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity
Creativity and out-of-the box thinking
An entrepreneurial and innovation driven mindset
Curiosity and active listening with an insatiable desire to learn
Consensus builder and coach
Sees failure, mistakes and conflict as opportunities to do better
Resilience and the ability to adapt to varied situations and people
Kindness and caring for others
Respect for others and their diverse backgrounds and views
Integrity and is honest and truthful
Land Acknowledgement
On Fogo Island, we respectfully acknowledge the land on which we gather and work as the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, whose culture has been lost forever as a result of colonization. We also acknowledge the province of Newfoundland & Labrador as the ancestral homelands of many diverse populations of Indigenous peoples, including Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit.
We commit to using our platforms to encourage a reverence for Indigenous peoples and their knowledge, and to strive for truth and healing as we move forward together on a journey towards peace and collective prosperity.
Application Instructions
Compensation and benefits will be discussed with qualified candidates.
Shorefast is an equal-opportunity employer and strongly values diversity, including gender and sexual diversity, within its community. Shorefast is committed to reflecting our country’s diversity. We are pleased to accept applications from under-represented groups and encourage applications from Indigenous persons, youth, women, new immigrants, and persons with disabilities. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We regret that only qualified respondents will be contacted.
If you are looking for an innovative and captivating challenge, working with a great team for a very important, focused, and successful organization that is creating bold and transformational change, then please send your CV along with a covering letter explaining why you should be a serious candidate to Cathy Preston (cathy@phcap.ca), President & Founder, Preston Human Capital Group. Please advise Cathy if you require any accommodations.