Director, Annual Meeting Project Management

TITLE: Director, Annual Meeting Project Management

STATUS: Exempt

LEVEL: Director

DIRECT SUPERVISOR: Vice President, Education

POSITION DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

The ACR is looking for a talented and passionate Project Manager to join the ACR’s Education team and project manage the ACR Annual Scientific Meeting, Convergence. The ACR Annual Meeting, held each fall, is the world’s premier scientific meeting devoted to rheumatic diseases, typically comprising five days of programming (~300 sessions), a robust poster hall (~2000 posters), a wide variety of networking opportunities, and a large exhibit hall. It is the ACR’s most visible membership offering and the organization’s largest revenue generator, with typical attendance ranging from 10,000-12,000 participants. The Annual Meeting is a complex event that requires coordination of management across several departments and business owners within the ACR, including but not limited to the following key areas:

• Pricing and registration
• Technology implementation and management including coordinating testing
• Content planning and speaker management
• Funding (including exhibits, sponsorship, industry support and grants)
• Marketing and communications
• Contracts and legal
• Training (faculty and staff)
• Audio/visual production
• Customer support
• Housing
• Conference center management
• Budget development and management
• On-site management
• Networking and experience design and execution

The successful candidate will have strong people and process/project management skills to lead the organization in the development and execution of a successful annual meeting.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• In collaboration with stakeholders across the organization:
  • Lead the definition of project scope and objectives.
  • Define the tasks required to complete the project, in what order they should occur, and dependencies across them.
  • Build and control the project plan, planning timeline, RACI Chart and budget.
  • Identify potential risks and bottlenecks; develop contingency plans to keep the project on track.
  • Manage project deliverables and ensure that they adhere to quality standards.

• Internalize and understand all aspects of the meeting and subsequent priorities of its stakeholders to best plan, innovate, manage, and support their mission.
• Meet with project stakeholders regularly to identify and manage risks and identify and resolve issues.
• Organize, schedule, and lead project meetings with authority, in a collaborative and professional manner.
• Prepare and deliver regular status reports to stakeholders, including leadership.
• Coordinate the development of documentation, training materials and other documents as needed.
• Conduct post project evaluations: identify lessons learned and plans to enhance and/or mitigate such lessons in the future.
• Establish, document, and maintain processes and methodologies for successful project management of the ACR annual meeting.
• Develop or recommend changes in business processes and procedures to ensure continuous improvement.
• Identify and document new opportunities/initiatives for future consideration/implementation to ensure that the Annual Meeting is in line with the much-evolving educational and technology landscape and meets the high expectations of the ACR’s discerning membership.
• Some overnight travel is necessary to fulfill job and assigned responsibilities.
• Any additional responsibilities as the VP, Education and ACR Executive Vice President may assign.

• Have a minimum of 8 years of project management, preferably with PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Have demonstrable experience as a successful project team leader, driving complex projects to successful implementation on-time and within budget, with high attention to detail and strong organization skills.
• Have demonstrated ability to assimilate new information, concepts and ideas quickly and immediately turn them into effective actions.
• Have strong interpersonal and communications skills, capable of communicating, negotiating and building relationships with stakeholders across the organization, with diverse personalities and priorities.
• Be a self-starter who is driven by an internal sense of urgency and accountability, with high energy and high positivity.
• Take initiative - work with minimal supervision; detect opportunities to solve problems and see them through to final resolution.
• Think strategically, considering organizational goals and requirements with all projects.
• Demonstrate an affinity for working in a fast-paced, changing environment, with the ability to be flexible, effectively manage change, and thrive when facing ambiguity.
• Preferably have project management experience with large-scale conferences and/or events.

We participate in E-Verify.

The ACR provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. The ACR complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities or conducts business

This is not a contract. The description and duties as they relate to this position are subject to change as reasonable business necessity dictates. In the event of such changes, a new job description may be created.

With nearly 8,500 physicians, health professionals, researchers, medical students, and scientists worldwide, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is the home of the rheumatology community. The ACR is a values-based organization, and as such focuses on the cultural values of transparency, accountability, collaboration, community, inclusion, and innovation across all interactions within and across departments, with members and volunteers, and external organizations with whom we work. We believe culture, communication and collaboration leads to excellence and allows our employees to fully flourish.