POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
Center for Safe Energy
Berkeley, California
Executive Director
The Center for Safe Energy (CSE) of Earth Island Institute is seeking a dynamic, visionary leader to guide a successful, highly regarded non-profit into new and expanded activities. The new Executive Director will lead a strategic planning effort to identify new program objectives and activities and new funding sources. Preliminary ideas about these directions follow the position description.
Overview
The Center since 1991 has fostered exchanges among American experts and NGOs on energy and climate change with their counterparts in the republics of the former Soviet Union, especially Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan. Catastrophic explosions and dispersal of radioactive materials from Chernobyl in 1986 prompted the formation of the Center, and it has continued to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy rather than continued reliance on nuclear power. In recent years, the importance of climate change has sparked a new emphasis on alternatives to fossil fuels as well.
The Center is one of the few, and perhaps the only, environmental NGO to foster collaboration of American energy activists and experts with their counterparts in the former Soviet republics. Thus, the Center occupies a uniquely strategic position and is particularly well suited to build a desperately needed program on safe energy that can serve as a model for countries everywhere.
The new executive director will be a passionate, credible, and articulate advocate for CSE’s mission. With an entrepreneurial spirit and sound marketing instincts, the new leader will expand CSE’s resource base. The successful candidate will be a proven strategic leader and fundraiser who can work independently to create an organization that builds on CSE’s past and creates its new future.
The Center for Safe Energy is fiscally sponsored by the Earth Island Institute, a registered non-profit that manages our accounting, payroll, taxes, and benefits.
Position
In consultation with the current Director, the Executive Director (ED) will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for the Center for Safe Energy’s (CSE) staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission. This is a small organization. The right candidate must assume many roles and must be a highly organized self-starter.
Leadership & Operational Management:  Develop a strategic plan that incorporates goals and objectives and programmatic activities for the future of the organization  Determine how best to develop and utilize a Board of Directors  Represent and speak for CSE with other organizations, government, businesses, the media, and the public Fundraising & Communications:  Expand the fiscal base to support program operations.  Deepen and refine all aspects of communications, including social media.  Use external presence and relationships to form strategic partnerships. Program Management:  Oversee the planning, implementation and evaluation of the organization’s programs and services  Ensure that the programs and services offered by the organization contribute to the organization’s mission  Monitor the day-to-day delivery of the programs and services of the organization to maintain or improve quality  Oversee the planning, implementation, execution and evaluation of special projects
Qualifications
The new executive director will have, among other attributes, the following skills and experience:
 Significant knowledge of culture and language of the countries of the former Soviet Union; fluency in spoken Russian strongly desired
 Extensive knowledge in the field of energy and climate change
 Proven track record of NGO development, grant writing, and reporting
 Proficiency in leading and supporting staff and volunteers
 Proven track record of successful nonprofit program development and management
 Strong marketing, public relations, and fundraising experience  Ability to engage with a wide range of peoplefrom different cultures  Strong written and verbal communication skills in English  Persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills
 Integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed  Advanced degree in a relevant area desired
How to apply:
Please send a resume and a cover letter addressing the qualifications and expectations of the position. Semi-finalists for the position will be asked to provide references from three people. Please also provide, either in the letter or in a separate statement of not more than 1 – 2 pages, a sketch of the ideas for new directions that you could bring to CSE. Our preliminary ideas follow below.
Please email your application and/or any questions to cse@igc.org
Application deadline: We will review applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
CSE’s past work
The Center has been organizing technical and cultural exchanges between Americans and citizens of the former Soviet Union since 1991. The Center has co-sponsored many energy conferences and seminars in Russia and Ukraine, has conducted training and grant programs in Kazakhstan and has organized study tours in the U.S. for environmental activists from those countries. CSE has established partnerships with environmental and energy activists and their organizations.
The Center’s work currently includes NGO capacity building, women’s leadership and civil rights, energy information exchange, local organizing and NGO advocacy campaigns, energy efficiency and renewable energy business development, and ways for local governments to play a positive role in promoting energy change.
Historically, the Center’s principal objectives have been:
1. To foster energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy resources in order to phase out reliance upon nuclear energy and fossil fuels in the U.S., former Soviet Union and other countries
2. To support the growth of independent non-governmental organizations which are concerned with energy issues in the former Soviet Union and to link them for joint efforts with their counterparts in America and other countries
3. To educate the public worldwide on the environmental and proliferation risks in the transport and management of nuclear waste, in the reprocessing of irradiated fuel rods from reactors and in the use of plutonium in nuclear power plants
4. To build the strength and effectiveness of non-governmental sector in the former Soviet Union, especially women’s leadership in those organizations, to aid democratization.
From these objectives, CSE conducted the following activities:
1. Sought to phase out reliance upon nuclear energy and fossil fuels by fostering energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy;
2. Provided training and grants to potential leaders, particularly women, dealing with environmental, social and economic problems in their communities;
3. Raised money from American foundations and individuals in support of independent citizen organizations in the former Soviet Union;
4. Focused on grassroots groups with strong leadership in provincial and rural regions that are isolated from international information and support programs;
5. Found American specialists to donate time and expertise to publications and educational events organized by partners in these countries; and
6. Brought activists from the former Soviet Union to the US to work with American counterparts on common issues.
Preliminary ideas for CSE’s future
The search for a new Executive Director comes at a time shaped by three, overarching questions:
Will the United States, the republics of the former USSR, and all the other countries of the world find a pathway to reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels to as close to zero as possible to avoid the potential of catastrophic climate change?
Will this pathway be free of nuclear power?
In a world nuclear-free and fossil-fuel-free energy economy, will energy services be adequate for a good standard of living for all of earth’s people?
Neither the United States nor the republics of the former USSR has achieved a pathway to a nuclear-free and fossil-fuel-free energy economy. The Center believes that vigorous exchanges among NGOs and governments of these countries can help all countries find the desired pathways that improve the lives of all citizens.
Collaboration among the United States and these republics unites the second and fifth largest emitters of carbon dioxide, responsible for most climate change. In addition, these countries are heavy users of nuclear power, and Russia and the USA are among the few countries with the capacity to build new nuclear reactors. In both countries, manufacturers of nuclear power plants actively seek domestic and export markets for their products, a fact that creates influence with political leaders.
The Center by coincidence originated in California. Since the Center’s founding, California has clearly emerged as a leader in American efforts to build a new energy economy with reduced uses of fossil fuels and without new construction of nuclear power plants. Thus the “California example” now makes California an ideal location for a new and expanded Center. We anticipate that future directions of CSE will capitalize on its California location.
CSE is also a part of Earth Island Institute, an umbrella organization that supports a wide range of NGOs and fosters mutually supportive interactions among them. As with its location in California, CSE’s participation in Earth Island Institute serves as a foundation for future strategic directions.