Vice President, Strategic & Affinity Partners

Position Summary:

The Vice President, Strategic & Affinity Partnerships will lead the transformation and scaling of BNI’s Partner Program into a disciplined growth engine that drives new affinity chapter formation and sustained membership growth across the United States. This role will evolve the program from relationship-driven activity into a structured, segmented, and performance-oriented function aligned to BNI’s growth priorities.

This executive will focus on partnerships within key industries including Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, and Mortgage (FIRM), as well as other distributed sales organizations, leveraging an affinity-based approach to activate existing networks and accelerate expansion. These industries will receive focused partnership investment through tailored strategies rooted in shared professional communities.

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, this leader will redesign and operationalize the Partner Program, introducing clear segmentation, value propositions, and performance metrics. The role will oversee the partnerships team, strengthen enterprise sales discipline, and ensure alignment across corporate and franchised regions, while building a model that can scale globally over time.

Job Responsibilities:

Partner Program Transformation & Strategy

• Lead the redesign of BNI’s Partner Program into a scalable, segmented, and performance-driven growth channel.
• Define partnership models including enterprise, affinity, and channel, with clear value propositions and success metrics.
• Establish core infrastructure including processes, tools, and KPIs to measure effectiveness and ROI.
• Drive continuous improvement through data insights, market trends, and performance analysis.

Strategic Partnership & Enterprise Development

• Identify, cultivate, and secure enterprise-level partnerships within FIRM industries and other distributed sales organizations.
• Lead consultative engagements with senior executives and negotiate long-term, high-value agreements.
• Build and manage a partnership pipeline with clear forecasting and measurable outcomes.

Affinity Partnership Strategy

• Design and execute affinity-based strategies aligned to priority industries and ideal member profiles.
• Leverage partner networks to drive targeted chapter expansion and membership growth.
• Ensure focused investment in priority industries through tailored partnership approaches.

Revenue & Growth Accountability

• Drive partnerships that contribute directly to chapter formation and membership growth.
• Develop joint initiatives and activation plans that deliver measurable results.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Lead and develop a high-performing partnerships team with strong business development capabilities.
• Partner with franchise and corporate leaders to align partnership efforts with regional growth strategies.
• Collaborate with marketing, sales, and leadership to ensure alignment with go-to-market priorities.

Sales & Relationship Management

• Represent BNI externally and build credibility with senior stakeholders and industry leaders.
• Relationship Management: Developing and nurturing long-term partnerships with top-tier clients, often acting as the main point of contact for corporate-level, multi-location, or enterprise customers.
• Oversee the full partnership lifecycle from sourcing through activation and ongoing optimization.

Global Perspective

• Develop partnership frameworks that can scale internationally while adapting to regional markets.

• Any additional duties needed to help demonstrate our core values, drive our vision, and fulfill our mission.

Competencies:

• Strategic Thinking
• Relationship Building

• Leading Leaders
• Transformation
• Teamwork
• Performance Management
• Cross-cultural Leadership
• Change Management

Qualifications:

Required:

• 12+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, business development, or channel leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field (MBA preferred)or equivalent experience.
• Proven track record of building and scaling partnership programs that drive measurable growth outcomes.
• Strong experience or network within one or more FIRM industries including financial services, insurance, real estate, or mortgage.
• Demonstrated success leading consultative, enterprise-level sales engagements with senior executive stakeholders.
• Experience developing go-to-market strategies or partnership-driven growth channels.
• Strong financial acumen and ability to connect partnership strategy to business performance.
• Experience leading and building high-performing teams.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to travel domestically with occasional international travel.

Preferred:

• Experience transforming or building a partnership program from the ground up.
• Experience in franchised or distributed business models.
• Familiarity with membership-based or professional networking organizations.
• Experience aligning partnerships to growth or go-to-market strategies.
• Exposure to international markets or global expansion.
• Experience with partner enablement or affinity-based growth strategies.