Director, Financial Aid Events Planning

Strategic Events Planning and Execution (50%)  

• Lead the long-range strategy and vision for financial aid professional convenings to advance College Board’s mission, strengthen product retention, and drive engagement.  

• Lead end-to-end planning and project management for professional development events, including virtual webinars, national conferences, regional sessions, and institutional training.  

• In partnership with Director of Financial Aid Marketing and Communications, co-lead conference design and positioning, including defining event goals, content strategy, format, and attendee experience.  

• Manage event logistics including vendor selection and management, content development, contracts, onsite support, registration, and audiovisual, committee/speaker travel, and hotel room blocks.  

• Identify and execute strategies and new best practices that result in measurable growth of event engagement, customer satisfaction, and conversion.  

• Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to manage speaker engagement, session proposals, content development, outreach, scheduling, content alignment, and preparation to ensure a cohesive and impactful event experience.  

• Provide travel support for advisory committees including managing rooming lists, airfare, and reimbursements.  

• Drive strategy aimed at streamlining event planning processes and improving the end-to-end attendee experience.  

• Oversee site selection and virtual platform setup; manage vendor and venue coordination, registration, day-of execution, and travel support for committee members, presenters, and staff.  

• Draft and maintain run-of-show documents, production timelines, and internal staffing plans to ensure flawless delivery.  

• Own accountability for meeting event KPIs such as NPS, registration growth, and revenue targets.  

• Serve as a thought partner to product and marketing leadership on how convenings can accelerate product adoption and user satisfaction.  

Budget Management (15%)  

• Develop and oversee event budget planning.  

• Coordinate payments and reconciliations of events related transactions.  

• Develop and maintain event revenue and modeling.  

• Make budget recommendations for cost savings and revenue growth based on past event performance and vendor negotiations.  

Technology and Training Support (25%)  

• Manage event technology platforms (e.g., Zoom, Cvent, etc…) including registration, attendee engagement, and Salesforce integrations.  

• Ensure accessibility, consistency, and ease of use across all convening tools.  

• Troubleshoot technical issues during events and serve as the primary liaison for platform support and vendor partners.  

• Develop and execute attendee surveys and maintain post-event analytics to inform training and support strategies.   

• Manage event scheduling and registration logistics.  

• Evaluate and recommend software systems to improve operational efficiency and attendee experience.  

Staff & Exhibitor Support (10%)  

• Work closely with Director of Financial Aid Marketing and Communications to deploy events promotions and align brand presence.  

• Develop and maintain exhibiting toolkits and assets.  

• Support exhibiting strategies and ancillary meetings including securing conference and events booth space, assets, and contracts.   

• Support staff team engagements including securing meeting spaces and coordinating staff travel.  

• Lead planning for national exhibiting presence to support sales enablement and customer acquisition strategies.  

About You   

To qualify for tis role, you must have:

• 5-7 years of related experience working in the fields of event planning, event data management, education management, and membership association management.  

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred.

• Ability to use data and analytics to drive decision-making.  

• Strong organization, project management and prioritization skills and the proven ability to move forward multiple projects in concert, both independently and as a member of the team.  

• Adaptable and open to feedback with the desire to learn and grow.  

• Able to attend to numerous time sensitive activities at once, i.e., multitask.   

• Experience managing team workflows and projects via Monday.com, MS Project or similar tools  

• Understands the complexity of large-scale conferences.  

• Understanding of the school and college environments and those of educational systems  

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to relate to educators and other constituents at a variety of levels.  

• Can answer to numerous internal and external audiences with accuracy and grace.  

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills -- including proofreading and editing skills.  

• Ability to design and deliver effective presentations and training resources.  

• Proficient in PowerPoint, Word, Excel, CVent and skilled with web content management systems.  

• The ability to travel 3-6 times a year to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business