Lead, MEDA @ 75 at Mennonite… · Waterloo

Lead, MEDA @ 75

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) invites applications for a Lead, MEDA @ 75 to join our dedicated and talented team in our mission to create business solutions to poverty!

MEDA’s work is built on a foundation of Mennonite business roots and faith-based values, within the global context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We believe business solutions are effective interventions to address poverty. Through a market-systems approach and strategic partnerships, MEDA enables access to finance and provides business and technical expertise to build transformative agri-food market systems that create decent jobs, allowing traditionally excluded groups to become active participants in a sustainable economy. MEDA welcomes all who share our values and want to join us in our mission. To find out more about MEDA, please visit our website at www.meda.org.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Build the next chapter of a 75-year-old idea.

In 1953, a small group of businesspeople acted on a conviction: business can be a calling and an instrument for human flourishing. In 2028, MEDA turns 75. MEDA is not looking for someone simply to organize an anniversary. We are looking for someone to help us use it.

MEDA @ 75 is a two-year initiative to widen the circle around MEDA’s mission by reconnecting generations of people who built MEDA while bringing entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, families, partners and new champions into what comes next. The initiative will accelerate MEDA’s $75 million Reaching New Horizons Campaign, strengthen MEDA’s global relevance and influence, build the next generation of MEDA, and contribute to the larger ambition of one million decent jobs by 2030.

Reporting to the President & CEO, the Lead, MEDA @ 75 will turn an ambitious idea into an extraordinary two-year journey. The role will use this once-in-75-years milestone to strengthen MEDA’s story, constituency, resources, influence and next generation of champions.

Job Status: Full-time, fixed-term through May 2029

Location(s): Canada, U.S preferred; global candidates considered

Reports to: President & CEO

Salary Range: CAD $87,400 to $109,200 per year

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

Strategic Storytelling and Positioning

• Articulate the story only MEDA can tell after 75 years and explain why that story matters now.
• Draw from MEDA’s Mennonite and Anabaptist heritage, its founding conviction of Business as a Calling, and 75 years of working alongside entrepreneurs to create a narrative that is authentic to MEDA’s roots and relevant to the future.
• Express both who MEDA has been and who MEDA is becoming: an ecosystem and systems builder operating at the intersection of development, investment, enterprise and faith.
• Reintroduce Business as a Calling as a contemporary conversation about enterprise, capital, responsibility and human flourishing in a world being reshaped by AI, climate change, changing trade and capital flows, and the need for decent jobs at scale.

Constituency, Community and Next-Generation Engagement

• Reconnect former leaders, supporters, families and partners who shaped MEDA and invite them to help shape what comes next.
• Identify and engage people who do not yet know MEDA but should, including entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, corporate leaders, partners and younger generations.
• Create meaningful pathways for the next generation of entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and MEDA families to become participants, members, champions and leaders of the mission.
• Build a movement that helps people progress from awareness to engagement, participation, championing, investment and long-term relationship.

Partnerships and Resource Mobilization

• Build partnerships and take MEDA into networks where conversations about business, investment, development, technology, faith and human flourishing are already happening.
• Turn relationships into action through philanthropy, catalytic investment, corporate partnerships, mentorship, introductions, expertise, influence, legacy commitments and new champions for MEDA’s mission.
• Expand MEDA’s reach beyond its traditional constituency and strengthen connections with business, investment, philanthropic and faith communities in North America and internationally.

Road to 75 and Milestone Leadership

• Work across MEDA to ensure Tampa 2026, Niagara 2027 and MEDA @ 75 in 2028 become powerful chapters of a larger journey.
• Advance the Road to 75 between major milestones through family and former-leader engagement, major and legacy conversations, Business as a Calling thought leadership, next-generation entrepreneurship, external platforms, global experiences and new partnerships.
• Help shape the 2028 Convention’s strategic ambition, audience, story and relevance so that it is worthy of MEDA’s 75th anniversary and points clearly toward the future.

Entrepreneurial Leadership and Organizational Collaboration

• Give structure to an ambitious idea that is not fully formed, test approaches, build partnerships around it and move it forward without creating unnecessary process.
• Convene consequential people around consequential questions and ensure that what happens after they leave the room matters more than the event itself.
• Work across the organization to deliver results without needing to own every component directly.

Any other duties and/or requirements as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS:

Experience and Track Record

• A demonstrated record of building something that people wanted to belong to, such as a movement, campaign, community, network, institution, capital-mobilization initiative or other mission-driven platform.
• Experience may come from philanthropy, impact investing, entrepreneurship, business, university advancement, a global network or membership organization, international development, a foundation, a faith-and-business movement, or another relevant field.
• Demonstrated ability to take a powerful story and turn it into engagement, relationships, resources and action.
• Experience building relationships across diverse constituencies, including long-standing supporters, next-generation leaders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, philanthropists, investors, Board members and founders.

Core Capabilities

• Strategic storytelling: Ability to listen deeply, identify what is distinctive about an institution and articulate a narrative that changes how people see it and invites participation.
• Relationship building: Comfort engaging people across generations, geographies, sectors and levels of influence.
• Constituency and movement building: Understanding of how people move from awareness to long-term relationship and investment.
• Capital and resource mobilization: A broad understanding of philanthropy, investment capital, corporate relationships, market access, expertise, mentorship, influence and legacy commitments.
• Entrepreneurial building: Ability to structure, test and advance ambitious ideas while maintaining momentum.
• Convening: Ability to bring the right people together around important questions and translate convenings into meaningful follow-through.
• Global perspective: Ability to connect MEDA’s work and entrepreneurs around the world with North American and international communities.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:

• Intellectual curiosity about business, investment, development, technology, AI, climate, trade, entrepreneurship, jobs, faith and human flourishing, with the ability to see the connections among them.
• Ability to respect MEDA’s Mennonite and Anabaptist roots while opening the conversation to people from different traditions who share the conviction that business and capital can contribute to human flourishing.
• Ability to hold MEDA’s past and future at the same time and translate 75 years of history into a compelling proposition for the next generation.
• Strong organizational collaboration skills and the ability to get things done across an organization without needing to own everything directly.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE:

Success will not primarily be measured by the number of events organized. By 2029, MEDA would expect to have:

• More resources mobilized;
• Stronger relationships recovered and created;
• A new generation actively engaged;
• More entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders around MEDA;
• New institutional and corporate partnerships;
• Greater recognition and influence;
• New champions carrying MEDA into their networks; and
• A substantially stronger platform for what comes after 75.

THE PERSON WE ARE HOPING TO FIND:

We are looking for someone who can hold MEDA’s past and future at the same time: someone curious enough to understand why eight businesspeople gathering in 1953 still matters, but ambitious enough not to let the story end there. Someone who can translate 75 years of history into a proposition for the next generation and turn that proposition into relationships, resources, champions and action.

What have you built that people wanted to belong to?

And if we gave you MEDA’s 75-year story, a global community of entrepreneurs and partners, and 30 months to materially strengthen what comes next, what would you build?

APPLICATION DEADLINE: November 30, 2026 @ 4pm EST

MEDA welcomes and encourages applications from all genders, backgrounds, religions, cultures, nationalities and abilities.

Accommodations are available on request for candidates with disabilities taking part in the selection process.

MEDA is not in a position to sponsor or assist candidates in obtaining work permits. Employees are required to establish that they will be able to work legally in the country the role is in, during the course of employment.

MEDA does not use AI for screening, assessing or selecting applicants.