Regional Director, North America (m-f-d)

The Mission

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the world’s most trusted sustainable forest management solution. Through our certification work, we ensure that commercial forests and forest products are managed responsibly, bringing benefits to both markets and forests, including the people and wildlife who depend on them. Our vision is of a world where every community on earth enjoys flourishing forests for generations – in short, forests for all forever. 

Today, FSC certifies some 200 million hectares of forest in more than 80 countries. Some of the world’s most respected brands rely on us to provide goods that their customers can feel confident about. With our unique governance system, comprised of stakeholders from all over the globe representing social, business, and environmental concerns, we build holistic solutions that have led consumers to trust us more than any other certification system. 

For more information on FSC, visit our website at https://fsc.org/en. 

Position Background

The North American Region includes the United States and Canada. The region plays a crucial role in FSC’s success globally and holds huge potential for impact, yet faces many challenges  that this role should support overcoming. FSC US and FSC Canada are FSC International’s Network Partner organizations responsible for delivering FSC activities and services on the ground. The FSC US and Canada country directors and staff report directly to their local boards and therefore whilst the North American Regional Director might have a small team, she/he does not have a direct supervisory role of the FSC US and FSC Canada staff, this is where lateral leadership is required.    

Position Overview

The North American Regional Director will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and direction for FSC's operations in the North American region. This role requires a dynamic, entrepreneurial and visionary leader with a deep understanding of market dynamics behind sustainable forestry practices. The role demands someone with strong stakeholder engagement skills, an open and curious mind, and the ability to drive impact through effective market development initiatives and advocacy. 

The North American markets boast a thriving forest industry, where key global organizations sit and can be of critical importance to achieve our global business. However, awareness and uptake of sustainable development practices, including FSC certification, is low and FSC is faced with a negative trend in the last 10 years. Part of the responsibilities therefore include engaging the local Boards of US and Canada in setting shared objectives and in leading informed discussions about how the operational effectiveness and resource optimization – and mobilization, can be improved. 

As North American Regional Director, it will be your job to support the FSC US and FSC Canada country directors, local Boards, staff and key partner organizations to realize the potential within these two important countries but also make sure they become a positive influence across our global network. You are a key liaison translating global and international strategies and activities into local projects, and vice versa, bringing learnings and potentially scalable innovation to the wider organization.  

As the North American Regional Director, you need to provide hands- on leadership to make this region a driving force for sustainable wood supply and demand. This role requires a dynamic, entrepreneurial minded and “roll up your sleeves” leader, with strong stakeholder engagement skills, and the ability to drive impact through lateral leadership.  

You’ll be a member of the FSC Global Leadership Team, influencing and shaping the future direction of the organization.  

Key Responsibilities 

Strategic Leadership: 

• Develop and execute a regional strategic plan aligned with FSC's global mission and objectives, which includes explicit outcomes mutually agreed with decision-makers in FSC Canada, FSC US and in FSC International. 
• Support FSC US and FSC Canada to position FSC, across multiple stakeholders in the Government, Private and ENGO sectors, as an organization that delivers on forest management value for the United States & Canada. 
• Provide guidance and direction to the North American teams, ensuring close alignment with organizational goals and assure effective liaising with key teams in FSC International. 
• Support the development and delivery of relevant services by the Network in the region.  
• Foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing to enhance collective impact. 

Market and Certification Development:

• Clarify expectations for market development, identifying most relevant products & services and agree on targets with both countries. 
• Assure improvement in certificate holder satisfaction, oversee evaluation surveys, discuss outcomes, identify priority improvements with the teams and assure follow up in close collaboration with relevant parts in FSCI. 
• Assure increase in FSC brand consumer awareness.  
• Assure confident and aligned messaging about FSC’s value proposition and impact.  
• Identify and nurture global key accounts. 

Coordination, Collaboration, & Operational Support:

• Serve as a central coordinating figure between Network Partners and with FSCI, ensuring seamless alignment across relevant team members.  
• Oversee strategic investment of FSCI, closely liaise with FSC Investment and Partnerships, assure high performing targeted effort is put in place to achieve agreed objectives. 
• Support smooth implementation of global roll-outs and initiatives, and coordinate input from the region in relevant developments and innovations for FSC globally. 
• Support National Directors in keeping their Boards informed of relevant global developments.  
• Report out on regional performance and needs to the Global Network Unit and other key FSCI teams.  

People Support and Resource Allocation: 

• Provide hands-on support and motivate team members to achieve their goals and aspirations, solve bottlenecks effectively, keep an eye on the longer-term direction, and create regional team culture and spirit with a strong sense of connectedness with the global FSC Network. 
• Support Boards of US and Canada in having informed discussions about opportunities for role consolidation and streamlined functions cross-border to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness. 

Stakeholder Engagement: 

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders including forest owners, Indigenous communities, industry partners, environmental organizations, and governmental agencies. 
• Act as a key spokesperson for FSC in the region, representing the organization in various forums. 
• Monitor relevant regulatory developments relating to forest-friendly legislation, identifying and leveraging connections between US and Canada. 
• Support regional members’ discussions and meetings in close coordination with the regional member coordinator and FSC’s membership team.  
• Offer information and engagement opportunities for international members in the region, contributing to the global success of FSC. 

Qualifications, Experience and Skills

• 10+ years leadership experience in strategy, consulting or market development roles. 
• Fluency in English (spoken and written), any other language a plus.
• Commitment to FSC’s mission and values. 
• Demonstrated cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of values, views and approaches to issues relevant to FSC by stakeholders around the world.
• Demonstrated leadership skills: ability to listen, to engage, to support, and to drive forward a shared direction with clarity and focus. 
• Assumes responsibility and takes accountability for results. 
• Ability to represent FSC through their work with exemplary personal and professional authority and conduct. 
• Proven success in developing commercial propositions.  
• Experience in growing resilient organizations with highly motivated and strong performing staff.  
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with strong verbal and written communication skills. 

Terms and Conditions

• Location: North America, ideally at one of the staff locations or remote.  
• Full-time work intensity is preferred and most realistic given nature of the job.  
• Travel: ability to travel frequently (~30% of time), most can be planned however at times short notice is inevitable.  
• Starting Date: as early as possible. 

How to Apply  

• Please apply via our website by submitting your CV in English. 
• Please do not send any photos of yourself. 
• The deadline for applications is 28 January 2024.  

We will confirm receipt of your application. However, only candidates shortlisted for an interview will be further contacted and will receive notice of the outcome of the selection process. Should you not receive a confirmation of receipt please check your spam filter and if you cannot find it there contact us at recruitment@fsc.org 

For FSC, inclusiveness and diversity are important values. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds and are entirely committed to considering all qualified applicants regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, and disability. 

Please be informed that by applying for this position you automatically accept our Data Protection Information on processing your personal data. 

We are looking forward to your application!